


Not Interested

by yumawesomesauce



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Student/Teacher, Childhood Friends, Community: kakasaku, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-03
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2018-03-21 01:27:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 22,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3672399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yumawesomesauce/pseuds/yumawesomesauce
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Because I am not interested in little kids. Rated T for some language. Multi-Chapter. KakaSaku.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**-**

**_Please me behind the school gym xx_ **

**_-_ **

"No way…" Shirauni Genma re-read the single line, his disbelief not subsiding. "Is this what I think it is!?"

Blank eyes looked over to the direction of the hysteric teen and sighed at the sight of his so called 'best friend'. He allowed the hyperactive brunette to snatch the pastel pink note from his hands without even bothering to hide his disinterest as he went to grab his outdoor shoes from his locker.

"Dude," He began painfully slow. "Do you even know what this is?"

"Trash?"

He didn't even hold back on that slap he sent the disinterested teen's way. "You bastard! It's a freaking love note!"

Kakashi winced at the painful blow.

"I can't believe it! You actually got a love note!" He teased. "You! Hatake Kakashi, a man with the empathy of a rock."

Ignoring his statement Kakashi closed his small locker and locked it, pocketing the small key. "You can have it if you want."

Genma stopped in mid-rant as he sent his best friend a withering look that spelled sentence to all seven circles of hell for the silver haired teen. "Die."

Kakashi sighed and made a move to get his bag. "I don't even get why those girls insist on putting worthless trash in my locker."

To prove his point, he pulled out some colorfully wrapped baked… something. Frowning, he tossed it aside and proceeded on emptying his "trash"-filled locker.

"See?" He whined, pulling out more outrageously pink and frilly goods. "If I start getting ants-"

"Well aren't you one popular son of a bitch?"

He looked up and didn't bother masking the look of utter disdain that crossed his face. "…Asuma."

Sarutobi Asuma laughed and hooked an arm around the shorter male and promptly placed him in a well deserved head-lock. "So what's sunshine droning about today Genma-chan?"

"This," He held up the pastel pink paper with carefully written letters of love. "Our dear Kakashi-kun has gotten a love note… again."

"Look at you, breaking hearts like the little bastard you are!" Asuma yelled and tightened his grip around his friend's neck.

Kakashi elbowed his so called friend and fixed his collar. "Fuck off."

Asuma gasped, horrified. "How dare you speak to your father that way!"

Genma smirked and joined in. "Our son is finally entering his rebellious stage!"

Asuma and Genma laughed as they pulled their unwilling friend in another manly hug. "After all we've done for you!"

"Ano… You guys should quiet down." Umino Iruka, ever the gentle one of the group chastised and gestured towards the large number of people who were looking their way trying to figure out what was the noise all about. "We wouldn't want Arai-sensei to get mad again."

Genma pulled away from the others and laughed. "HA! As if that old geezer can hold me down!"

Asuma smirked. "Please, who was the one weeping as they called our parents to the office last time?"

"T-That was ages ago!"

This time it was Kakashi's turn. "If ages you mean a month ago, then yes."

The three laughed at the expense of their fourth friend who in turn went red from embarrassment as they continued to poke fun at him.

"S-Shut up!" Genma yelled. "We're not even talking about me! Kakashi here plans on not showing up and breaking another poor young girl's heart!"

The man in question merely pulled out his phone and shrugged.

"You bastard!" he continued and pointed at his face. "You are the enemy of women everywhere!"

Kakashi merely pushed his hand away and headed towards the exit.

"Oi." Asuma pointed his thumb to the other direction. "School gym is that way."

"I'm going home."

"You're going to reject her?"

"Hn."

Iruka frowned. "Without giving her a proper reply?"

He made a sound of annoyance. "Tch. Why bother? She's just gonna cry anyway."

"Hatake—" Before Genma could insult him once again Asuma placed a restraining hand on his shoulder and pulled him away from the other two. Genma glanced at him in question but soon understood as he tilted his head to the normally gentle Iruka who had a disturbingly happy smile on his face.

"Well," Iruka began as he tossed his bag over to an unsuspecting Genma. "That won't do."

Seconds later Kakashi found himself being carried like a sack of potato over the-usually-mild mannered Umino Iruka heading over to the direction of the school gym. Asuma and Genma trailing behind carrying their forgotten bags laughing all the way.

**_..._ **

_Silver hair peeked out of a window on the second floor. Eyes that held knowledge far beyond his years narrowed at the sight of the delivery van that had been cramped in the narrow pathway of their street in front of a newly built house in their neighborhood, delivery men coming in and out of the house carrying boxes of all sizes. His eyes narrowed as he saw a man with chestnut brown hair escort in a woman with red hair inside the large abode very much like their own with a smile. The woman laughed at whatever he said and pushed towards the direction of the door allowing him to do whatever he pleases. Unconsciously his small hands began to grip the curtains he was hiding behind and a frown marring his features. The woman stayed outside walking along the front yard busying herself with the plants._

_It was then his heart stopped when she looked up and her green eyes look straight at him._

_Faster than he could blink he shut the curtains and dropped to the floor. His hand came up to clutch his shirt in attempts to calm his irate heartbeat._

_She saw him._

" _Well dear son of mine," He heard a voice come from the doorway. "What are you doing there?"_

_He looked up, meeting eyes identical as his own. "Father."_

_**...** _

Genma whistled. "Damn."

Beside him Asuma couldn't help but nod in agreement. They were currently hiding up a tree to act as spectators to the event playing before them. Iruka had managed to  _convince_ Kakashi into staying and give the poor girl a  _proper_  reply.

But never did they consider that this 'poor girl' would be their high school's very own Yamato Nadeshiko, Hanabuki Saya.

Hanabuki Saya was the freshman that no one dared approach seeing as half of the school was her loyal fans and part of the bargain was a decree stating that anyone who dare approach the girl would be subjected to lifelong punishment and hatred by the male population of the whole district.

But for the flower to  _approach_  someone of her choice… it definitely didn't cross their dumb feeble minds.

So now we arrive at the scene of a very much bored Kakashi with Iruka standing behind him a hand of 'support' on his shoulder and a very much blushing Hanabuki Saya-san with her own entourage of willing accomplices who stood not so far in the back offering their comfort and cheers.

"You can do it Sa-chan!"

Saya glanced at her friends and smiled to show her thanks only to look down at her feet once more and blush beet red when she accidentally met the eyes of her dear prince charming.

"A-Ano… I-It's not l-like I have something againstUmino-kun, but…" She trailed off, her eyes looking hopeful, willing him to get the hint.

Iruka gave a comforting smile as he squeezed Kakashi's shoulder in warning knowing that he was probably thinking along the lines of:

_I hate all the people you brought with you but you don't see me complaining._

…And Kakashi being himself would probably blurt it out without thinking of the consequences…again.

"Of course," He offered a smile. "I'll be off then. Good luck." He watched as she nodded, determination flashing in her eyes. He squeezed Kakashi's shoulder once more as a reminder and backed away with a friendly wave.

"I'll see you two tomorrow."

"I-It was nice seeing you Umino-kun!"

With that Iruka headed to the direction of his other two friends who were invisible to the small gathering but still had the perfect view of what was about to play out.

"Is he gonna be alright?" Genma questioned as he pulled Iruka up into the tree to watch the show.

Iruka sighed. "Well you know… It's Kakashi."

_**...** _

" _I don't like it."_

_Sakumo had to restrain himself. "And what is it that you do not like?"_

" _Meeting strangers."_

_That time he didn't even bother to suppress the smirk that graced his features. At the age of seven, the boy was already showing a trait that all Hatake men had possessed._

_May god be merciful._

" _Kaa-san is_ too _trusting." He pouted. "I mean, going over to some stranger's house and… and we barely know these people and yet she is already too friendly!" He finished lamely._

_He made an amused sound as his son continued on about the dangers of strangers as taught by their academy teachers. He had to cover a laugh with a cough when he got to the part about strange men offering candies and cookies made by their grandmothers and luring them into a white unsuspecting van and then sell them off to vegetable dealers where they will be forced to eat 'green, yucky and super gross' cabbages and broccoli. Without skipping a beat as he took him into his arms as they descended the stairwell his son rant about the dangers of strangers just took a turn from horror to hilarity in a matter of seconds._

_He began to wonder if the teachers in his school were properly licensed. Reaching the bottom of the stairs he spotted his beautiful wife standing by the door with a basket of freshly baked goods._

" _You're late."_

_He smiled. "Ah we are, but Kashi-kun here was teaching me the wonders unsuspecting vans and vegetable dealers."_

" _Liar."_

_**...** _

Why the hell do I have to do this?

— **5 minutes ago—**

" _Look there she is!"_

_The group of four stopped short as they saw the ever popular Hanabuki Saya waiting patiently at their meeting spot. They spotted a group of girls behind her, but not too far away, probably there for moral support looking as anxious as the one who has yet to make a confession._

_Genma sighed. "Kakashi you are one lucky bastard."_

" _Stop calling me bastard." He replied as Iruka set him down._

_Iruka glared at him. "Kakashi make sure you give her a proper reply."_

" _But I don't want to go out with her."_

" _Whose saying you have to?" Asuma said as he leaned against the wall. "Just give the girl a proper reason as to why you don't want to date her. It beats having an armada of bitchy high school girls angry at you for ditching their queen and having rumors spread like wild-fire before the week is over."_

_Kakashi sighed. "Fine."_

"K-K-Kakashi-kun!" Her voiced snapped him out of his thoughts.

He had to suppress the urge to frown.

This girl he barely knew was already addressing him in such an intimate manner. (1)

"I'm sorry to have called you here but I have wanted to talk to you for quite some time now." She finished, looking relieved that he had yet to leave.

"Ah…" He didn't know how to reply to that. "So… What did you want to say to me?"

She turned red again. "W-Well you see… Ever since our first day I have always… always been looking at you!" She started. "I was so happy that I was in the same class and—"

Kakashi raised a brow at that.  _'She's in my class?'_

"—and to see you every day." She blushed cutely and giggled. "It's like a dream come true!"

He resisted the urge to point out how 'stalker-ish' she was sounding.

"Kakashi-kun is always so calm and cool." She looked up at him, eyes sparkling. "And I really,  _really_  like you!"

Kakashi glanced behind him only to see his so called friends hiding in the trees.

"Will you please go out with me!?"

_Huh… nothing I've never heard before._

"Listen…"  _Hanabushi? Horiguchi?_ "…Saya-san,"

"Yes?" She seemed to glow in delight upon hearing her name from him.

He resisted the urge to step back. "I'm… flattered by your—" _stalker-ish behavior_. "—feelings,"

She gasped in delight and warning bells seemed to go off on his head.

She was taking it the wrong way!

"But!"

"B-But?"

"…I decline."

…

"WHY!?"

_**...** _

_He watched with disinterest as his parents exchanged greetings with their new neighbors. His mother had presented them with a basket of homemade goods as a sign of new found friendship and his father had already disappeared with the husband of the woman he saw, discussing some matters that they need to know mainly about rules and regulations of their district. He stood awkwardly by the doorway having only taken off his outdoor shoes and offered some indoor shoes. He had to refrain from sulking, his mother had drilled manners into him and sulking would be very rude._

… _Even if the slippers were_ pink.

_He walked into the house and made a turn to where his mother had disappeared with their new neighbor. He found them in the kitchen, preparing tea and exchanging information on where to get the best bargains on vegetable. He nearly cringed when he heard the woman gave a tip to his mother about a sale on cabbages this afternoon at a small store in the market._

" _Mother," He called out._

" _Ah, Kashi-kun." His mother smiled and beckoned him to get closer. "This is Hana-san, introduce yourself."_

_He nodded and bowed in a respectful manner. "It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Hatake Kakashi."_

_Hana seemed pleased at his manners and smiled as she introduced herself as well. "Nice to meet you too Kakashi-kun." She smiled. "My name is Haruno Hanako, call me Hana if you want."_

" _Hana-san." He nodded and sat beside his mother at the kitchen isle as Hana-san served them tea and a plate of his mother's cookies. He thanked her politely as he accepted his share and nibbled quietly as he disregarded their conversation in favor of his snack._

" _So Kakashi-kun," His head turned to her when he heard his name being called. "How old are you?"_

" _Eight," He stated proudly. "I am turning nine next month."_

_Hana smiled. "Eight and already a handsome young man!"_

_He blushed at that. "Thank you."_

_Kakashi took a peek at his mother and she seemed happy that he had been keeping up pleasantries with the woman he barely knew._

" _How about you Hana-san?"_

" _Yes Sachiko-san?"_

" _Do you have any kids?" She looked around. "I haven't seen any with you—"Before she could even finish her statement she was cut off by the sound of a child crying._

" _My goodness!" Hana stood up. "She must've woken up."_

_Kakashi tilted his head to the side. "She?"_

_Hana didn't even answer him as she left the room and up the stairs._

" _Okaa-san?"_

_Sachiko smiled at her son and smoothed back his silver locks. "Her baby must have been hungry."_

_Kakashi looked up at her. "How do you know that she's hungry?"_

_She giggled. "You were the same when you were younger."_

_Not a moment later, Hana entered the room again now carrying a child barely at the age of one in her arms, an empty bottle on hand._

" _Sachiko-san," She called out. "If it's not a bother could you hold her while I make her bottle?"_

" _It's no bother at all!" His mother smiled and took the child within her arms and cooed at the young girl. "What a beautiful baby girl you have Hana-san!"_

_Kakashi stared at the thing in his mother's arm with his jaw hanging open and his eye-brows scrunched up in confusion._

" _Isn't she adorable Kashi?"_

_He didn't even answer as continued to stare._

_The thing had pink hair!_

_**...** _

Panic rose as tears began to well up and her bottom lip started to tremble with her attempt to restrain her sobs. "W-Why? D-Do you not like me?"

"Well…"

She fell to her knees and stared up at him. "A-Am I not p-pretty Kakashi-kun?" Tears began to fall.

Her friends rushed over to her sighed and looked at him with pleading eyes. "Kakashi-kun! Sa-chan really likes you!"

"Yeah! She only talks about you all the time!"

This time he didn't even bother to hide his disgust.

"Do you have someone else you like!?" One yelled at him. Saya looked up in shock, with startling speed she stood up and grabbed onto the front of his shirt.

"Y-You have someone you like Kakashi-kun?" She shook him a bit. "W-Who is she? Does she go to the same school? Is she a senior? I-Is she prettier than me?"

He tried to pry her hands of his person. "There isn't"

"Then why!?" All of them asked. He could even hear Genma's voice in the background.

Kakashi frowned and pushed her off. "You're annoying."

In the background Asuma, Genma and Iruka simultaneously face palmed.

_That Idiot!_

**...**

_Kakashi sat quietly at the love seat in the corner of the living room as he watched his dear mother and their new neighbor Hana-san coo at the baby who babbled meaningless words and giggled now and then as the adults continued to fuss over the girl._

_His eyebrows remained scrunch up as he couldn't get over the fact that the girl's hair was the most annoying color ever created in the history of mankind!_

" _She has such pretty hair!" His mother cooed as placed a ribbon on the girl's hair who seemed perfectly used to action, "I have never seen such a shade."_

_Hana laughed. "Strange hair color runs in the family," she explained. "I actually have an aunt with orange hair!"_

_Sachiko giggled. "Well I can understand as much. Hatake-men had always had the color silver present." Kakashi absent-mindedly ran a hand through his messy locks as his mother continued to chat with Hana-san._

" _Excuse me Haruno-san," A man called out by the door way. "I didn't want to intrude but we were wondering where you would want some of the other paintings placed."_

" _Of course," Hana stood up. "I'll be with you in a moment."_

_The man nodded and turned to head out once more. Hana excused herself with a smile and informed them that it wouldn't take long to have the task finish. She then offered to make another pot of tea as soon as she was done but his mother wouldn't have any of that._

" _Let me," Sachiko interrupted. "I'd love to help."_

" _Please," Hana smiled. "You are a guest and it is unbecoming of me as a host."_

" _I insist." She set the child down on the blanket on the floor, who seemed happy to have been let alone and her chubby fingers reaching for the toys present. "Meanwhile Kakashi here can look after dear Sakura-chan while we are both gone."_

_Kakashi's head snapped towards the direction of his mother. "Mother!"_

" _Well," Hana seemed to think it over. "Will you be okay with her Kakashi-kun?"_

_He was about to open his mouth to protest but his mother wouldn't have any of it. "Of course! Kakashi here is perfectly capable of taking care of little Sakura."_

_Hana pondered for a moment. "I guess it would be okay," She smiled. "And Saki here is about due for a nap so it won't be much trouble for Kakashi-kun."_

_Sachiko smiled in triumph. "Then it's settled." She turned towards her son. "Kakashi play with Sakura-chan while Hana-san and I go about some things."_

_He nodded in a dejected manner. "Yes mother."_

" _Good boy."_

_The two left the room, effectively leaving him alone with the pink haired thing. He sighed and got up his chair and walked over the thing who was currently biting on the ears of a stuffed rabbit, giggling. Kakashi sat down on the blanket and sighed. He looked around the room, his eyes landing everywhere but the child beside him. He groaned and lied down on his back his head landing on some children's picture books. Grabbing one, he decided to read one just to relieve boredom. He flipped through the pages not really caring as he had read the book before with his father. Stealing a glance towards the pink thing having not heard from it as soon as he sat down. He found her staring at him with those bright green eyes of hers._

" _What?" He questioned the girl._

_She tilted her head to the side, as if asking him the same._

_He frowned and set aside the girl and moved to fully face her as they stared each other down. Examining the girl, he found her hair to be even pinker upon closer look. Her eyes greener and her forehead, a bit bigger than normal. Not even knowing that his hand had moved on its own accord, his fingers poked her large forehead._

_Little Sakura seemed shocked by the contact only to have it morph into indignant anger after a few seconds. Kakashi's eyes widened in panic knowing that girls easily cry and looked out the window ready to signal Hana-san who was talking to the man who came in before. He was about to call out her name when his face was met by something soft._

_The pink thing hit him in the face with the rabbit._

**_..._ **

"How can you say that to a girl!?"

"You're so heartless!"

"Hatake-san take that back!"

"Sa-chan! Kakashi-kun didn't mean it! Right Kakashi-kun?"

"Apologize!"

"Kakashi-kun! Sa-chan really likes you!"

"Hatake-kun!"

Kakashi frowned as the girls that his so called admirer brought had berated him non-stop for making their dear Sa-chan cry. He stuffed his hands in his pocket fearing what he might do if the group of girls keep pushing him to no end.

"Look," His voice was sharp and annoyed, halting the shouting and sobbing of the group before him. "I don't like her so you should just go—"

"OKAY!" Genma cut off, silencing him with a hand on his mouth, before he could say anything more, Asuma and Iruka trailing behind him.

"Girls, we apologize for our Kakashi's behavior. He had a bad day and he's not feeling well."

Saya who seemed to have recovered stood up and walked over to him. "Kakashi-kun is unwell? Are you alright Kakashi-kun?"

Kakashi didn't reply and elbowed Genma off his person.

"Do you want to go to the nurse's office? Shall I take you there?"

"I'm fine." Kakashi bit out.

Saya blushed, seeming to forget his earlier rejection. "S-Shall I accompany you home?"

The girls smiled and cheered her on.

And with that, Hatake Kakashi snapped.

"Look. I know the type of girl you are. Playing the weak one while choosing to let anyone else do the dirty work for you," The crowd before him was stunned to silence. "You claim to like me but not once have I recalled ever talking to you let alone interacting with you." His voice was steady, but the words didn't seem any less harsher. "I didn't even know that we were in the same class." She gasped at that, but he continued. "As far as your confession goes, it seemed that you don't actually like me other than for my outer appearance. If that is your basis on love then I pity every man who had praised you for your beauty because seeing you now," He paused and stared at her disheveled appearance. "Desperate and pathetic. Hiding behind your friends who were willing enough to make a fool of themselves to defend a two-faced girl like you," He glanced at the girls who were as shell-shocked as Saya. "Even though it is quite obvious that you are just using them to do your bidding." Kakashi laughed. "I'm sure you're quite proud of yourself, having accomplished so much in so little time." He smirked. "Thinking about it I do recall this certain incident during the school trip where you  _insisted_ on going to the festival with a certain Yamada-kun—"

"SHUT UP!" All eyes turned towards the normally demure Saya who was now seething in anger. "Don't you dare say another word!"

"…So Yamada-kun  _didn't_  force you to go to the festival with him?" A girl from the group spoke up. "B-But you  _knew_  how I felt for him!"

Saya paled. "A-Aki-chan! I-I…I didn't—!"

"H-How could you!" Aki burst into tears and ran away from the scene. The other looking shocked as she was.

"Saya how could you do such a thing!"

"You're horrible!"

"And to think we considered you as a friend!"

"I hate two faced bitches!"

With that the group left to console their friend who had ran away from them.

Saya who was left standing in front of the four boys seethed with anger and turned to the source of it all. "You-You ASSHOLE!"

Genma paled hearing such a word come out of her dainty lips. Asuma hid a laugh and patted his back in mock comfort.

"Because of you all I had worked for vanished! Acting all goody-goody in front of everyone! You RUINED everything!"

Kakashi tilted his head to the side appraising her. "It was a given that all of your plans would come to an end," He smirked. "I just… speeded up the process."

Her fist made a painful impact to the side of his face. "You'll pay for this!"

With that being said, she flipped her hair and stormed out of the scene.

…

"Whoa…" Genma collapsed to the ground clutching his head, trying to process everything that has happened. "…Never again."

Asuma laughed. "Ha! The pretty flower had some thorns!" He chuckled. "Big nasty ones, at that!"

Iruka looked guilty as he approached Kakashi while he felt his jaw for any injuries. "I'm sorry."

Kakashi shrugged. "It wasn't your fault, so don't be."

Genma groaned. "Still," He fell to ground and lied on his back. "How did you know that the girl was a bitch?"

Kakashi shrugged. "I wasn't sure until I heard her voice." He explained. "I often hear her voice running about my hiding places up to no good."

"… You and your creepy ninja-ways..."

Kakashi smirked. "Look underneath the underneath."

Asuma smirked. "Okay Rouruni Kenshin-sama," He grabbed him by the collar and began pulling. "Let's get some ice on your pretty face."

Genma snorted following him. "Rouruni Kenshin was a samurai you dork."

It was Asuma's turn to snort. "And you knowing that makes you an even bigger dork."

Kakashi and Iruka could only smirk in amusement as the two fell into another petty argument.

_**...** _

_Losing is a very unfamiliar term for Hatake Kakashi._

_Being born in a family with a long line of public leaders guaranteed him the drive to overcome and obstacle brought his way. At the age of seven he was already able to comprehend a high school student's homework and answer it with relative ease. At the age of seven he had read up to 30 novels with little help from his parents. At the age of seven he already had the grasp of his dreams for the future._

_Get top marks._

_Get into a good high school._

_Go to college_

_Get a high paying job_

_Become a power ranger._

_It was a given that the last one was quite impossible but Mother said nothing was impossible when you set your mind into it! But how can he ever think of coming so close to becoming a power ranger when he can't even beat a freaking 7 month old at a staring contest!_

_His eyes narrowed and green eyes mirrored his actions. He suppressed a smirk when the pink thing started nodding off. He was so going to win this!_

" _Kakashi!" His mother's voice brought him back to reality and the pink thing to lose any trace of sleep in its person._

_His mother entered the room carrying a tray of freshly brewed tea and snacks. "Are you playing nice with Sakura-chan?"_

_He forced a smile and nodded. "Of course!"_

" _Good boy," She patted his head and smiled. "I'll clean up a bit in the kitchen so just keep an eye on her for a little bit more okay?"_

" _Yes mother!"_

_When his mother left the room, it was then he let his smile drop. It was time for a re-match!_

" _Now where did you…OI!"_

_He ran as quickly as he could towards the pink thing who was pulling on the table cloth, not knowing of the pile of books that was about to fall on top of her. His eyes shut tightly as he reached the girl and shielded her from the impending danger that almost befell the barely a year old baby. He felt the weight of the books fall onto his person and grunted in pain. His eyes peeked open to find a bunch of fairy tale novels scattered around them._

_He detached himself from the smaller girl and breathed out a sigh of relief. "That was close…" He looked down to the pink thing. "Are you o—"_

_The pink thing was sniffling._

_Meaning it was about to cry._

_Well shoot._

**_..._ **

Kakashi sighed as he walked out of the school grounds and onto the familiar path home, his hand nursing his sore cheek. Upon their arrival at the infirmary, he could only curse the heavens to know that the nurse had gone out for a bit, leaving him at the mercy of three inexperienced idiots who found it amusing to apply all kinds of ointments on his bruised face. Of course that had led to him fighting back, ending up with the uninjured being injured. The afternoon finished with the school nurse arriving and scolding them profusely for misuse of school property and treating his bruised cheek with a painful application of a pain relief patch. The four had parted ways with promises of getting together over the weekend. He peeled the pain relief patch, hating how it smelled and pocketed the used abomination with plans of burning it later. He fished out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his cheek in poor attempts of removing the smell but sadly he wasn't too lucky. He sighed once more, speeding up his pace to he could reach home faster and properly remove the annoying stench that came along with the pain relief patches but halted in his steps when a pair of eight year old boys ran past him with amazing speed for someone of their age all the while yelling out a very peculiar name.

"PINK-CHAAAAN!"

"Pink-chan!"

… They say curiosity killed the cat, but luckily for Kakashi he was always a dog lover. But that didn't mean he would waste an opportunity to fuck over the next generation.

He hid a smirk as he followed off into the direction where the two had gone. He suppressed the urge to laugh when he spotted the two in a very familiar playground searching high and low for whoever they were looking for. His eyes held nothing but amusement as he watched the two simultaneously bicker and work together to find their goal. He reveled in the fact that they haven't even noticed his presence and settled himself against a very familiar tree.

"Dobe this is all your fault!" The brunette called over to the blue eyed blonde.

"TEME!" Kakashi chuckled. Kids today sure pick up colorful words, young as they are.

"If you hadn't shown her that frog she wouldn't have run away!" The one called 'Teme' growled.

'Dobe' frowned. "How was I supposed to know girls don't like frogs? Frogs are cute!" He argued.

"Only a dobe would find a slimy frog cute!"

"Yeah? Well you eat tomatoes!"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Tomatoes are gross!"

"Are not! They're really good!"

"Are too! And they don't!" 'Dobe' scrunched up his face in distaste, probably remembering the taste. "They're icky!"

"Are not!" 'Teme' stubbornly repeated.

"Are too!"

"ARE NOT!"

"ARE TOO!"

Kakashi didn't know how it happened but one second he was trying to suppress his laughter as they argued about tomatoes and fighting like savage animals the next. His eyes twinkled in sadistic amusement as the two rolled around in dirt, kicking and punching as they went. He could only chuckle soundlessly as they once again resorted to name calling as soon as they separated, their bodies covered with dirt and light scratches.

He smirked. Boys will be Boys.

"I'm going home!" 'Teme' yelled.

"You can't go home!" Dobe protested. "We're not done fighting yet!" Kakashi laughed at that. "And besides! We haven't found pink-chan!"

"She isn't here Dobe, if she were we would've found her already!" He reasoned. "Maybe she went home already. We'll just have to find her tomorrow at school."

"B-But!"

"Tomorrow!"

"Argh!" The blue eyed blonde whined. "Fine! But I get to talk to her first!"

"As if dead-last!"

"Shut up you duck but hair!" He shot back. "I'll get to be her friend first!"

"Well I saw her first!"

"Nu-uh! We saw her the same time!"

"Well—! I was born first!"

"T-That doesn't count!"

"It does and—!"

…

Kakashi laughed as the two left the now empty park arguing as they came. He could only smirk when the person on the other side of the tree finally spoke up.

"A-Are… Are they gone?"

"Yup," He stretched and allowed himself to lie down on the soft grass. "So first day of transferring schools and you already made friends. Nice going squirt."

"I'm not a squirt!" said the person who sat down beside his laying form. "I'm already eight!"

He sat up and ruffled soft pink hair in an affectionate manner. "No matter how old you get you'll always be a squirt to me."

His companion pouted. "Unfair."

"Life isn't fair." He smirked and poked her forehead. "So anything to report?"

Green eyes sparkled at the chance given to speak and re-tell the happenings of her day. "I got into the star class!" She started. "Sensei praised me on my scores on the placement test, and said that I was ahead of everyone in my grade!" She stated proudly, her eyes searching his for praise.

He smiled and patted her head. "Nice. So make any new friends?"

Her smiled quickly vanished and her head dropped. "…I think the other kids don't like me too much."

Oh. He didn't know how to make of that. His hand stilled on top of her hair before ruffling it once more.

"Hey!" She swatted his hand away. "Quit messing up my hair!"

He smirked and pulled away. "Don't worry, you can't expect much from the first day." His eyes twinkled in mischief upon remembering something. "If you hadn't made any friends yet, then who were those two?"

"That was Naruto-san and Sasuke-kun," She explained. "They were in my class.

Kakashi noted the intimate honorific used on one of the names. "Sasuke-kun?" He smiled in a teasing way. "Does our little Sakura-chan like this Sasuke-kun?"

"N-No!" Sakura blushed and hid her face with her hands and shook her head. "E-Every girl in o-our class calls him that!"

Kakashi let out an amused sound. Already popular with the ladies it seems. "So why were they looking for you?"

"I-I… I don't know." She said. "I only spoke to the two of them once this day and they were following me around the whole day!"

"Oh?" Kakashi smirked.

"M-Maybe I did something bad… because when Sasuke-kun came and asked me to play with him and Naruto-san," She started with a small voice. "The girls from my class started being mean to me." Kakashi panicked when he saw a ghost of a tear shadow her eyes. "T-They started calling me names and…"

Kakashi didn't let her finish as he pulled her onto his lap, like he did every time she was upset over something and patted her head in a comforting manner.

"They're just jealous."

"Jealous?"

"Yeah," He wiped a tear from her face and smiled. "Girls are weird like that."

She pouted. "You think I'm weird?"

He smirked. "I don't even consider you human."

He was rewarded with a pinch for that. "Meanie!"

"Ow!" He winced when Sakura accidentally pinched the spot where he was punched earlier. "Stop that." He removed her small hand from his face and rubbed the sore spot.

Sakura gasped and brought her face closer to his, inspecting his injured cheek. "Kashi!" She began. "Did you get hit again?"

"Hn." He nodded and removed her from his lap.

She frowned as she watched him stand up. "Was it a girl again?"

Kakashi smirked, walking away. She would follow him anyways. "Yup."

"I thought you weren't gonna make girls cry anymore!" She scolded. "Boys shouldn't make girls cry!"

"But Saku-chan, girls are annoying." He reasoned, holding out his hand like he always does and laughed when she squeezed his hand a bit tighter than usual meaning she was really upset with his actions.

"Papa said that boys are supposed to make girls happy," She looked up at him. "And Mama said a boy will never have a bride if all he does is make girls cry."

Kakashi chuckled. "Maybe I don't want a bride."

"Why!?" The whole idea of  _not_  getting married was not registering in the mind of an eight year old girl who always dreamed of a white wedding of her own. "Mama said that being a married was a good thing!"

Kakashi hid a snort. "And what does your father say?"

She looked up at him. "Whatever Mama says is always right."

He didn't even bother hiding the laugh that escaped his lips. He bent down and picked up the little girl who continued on explain the concept of happily ever after and how important it was for him to stop getting into fights as well as making girls cry.

"—Really Kashi!" She pouted pinching his uninjured cheek. "How can you find a bride like that?"

"I'm not really looking for one right now,"  _Maybe not ever._

"How about I find you one?"

He chuckled. "I don't think you know what my type is," He poked her forehead with his free hand. "And can you stop talking about my nonexistent love life? How did we even get to this topic?"

Sakura pouted. "I'm serious! You might end up living all alone and I'm not always gonna be there to play with you!" She tugged at his arms, signaling she wants to be let down.

"That's okay I'll just live with ten—wait no, thirty dogs."

"No!" She protested.

Kakashi chuckled and ruffled the irate girl's hair. "Chill. Worst case scenario is I end up taking the dog plan seriously." He walked on forward, spotting the familiar row of houses.

"T-Then!" She called out from behind. "I'll be your bride if that ever happens!"

Kakashi stopped in his tracks.  _What?_

He turned to see a blushing Sakura standing still, her head bent down trying to hide her face from view. Her hands fisted the material of her red dress, her expression utterly embarrassed.

Kakashi smirked. "Did you just propose Sakura-chan?"

She swallowed and looked up, her blush still in place. "D-D-Did not! Only boys do that!"

He approached her, grin not leaving his face and crouched down so he was at eye-level with the blushing girl.

"W-What?"

His smile disappeared and he painfully hit her forehead. "Stu-pid"

"O-Ouch!"

Kakashi smirked and stood up walking away. "Sorry, I'm not interested in little kids."

He glanced back at the small girl who looked like she was deciding whether to cry or yell at him. "I-I'm not an idiot!"

"Go home little girl," He called out and shooed her in an annoying manner. "Go drink some milk or something."

Her face was red from anger. "Maybe I will!"

He heard a door slam and smirked as he opened up his own. "Not interested in little kids..." He repeated.

_So hurry and grow up, you stupid pink thing._

**…**

" _H-Hey!" He panicked as he tried to keep the tears from falling. "Don't cry! See it's not scary anymore!"_

_The eight year old could only watch in horror as the pink thing opened its mouth to let out an ear-piercing wail. Not wanting to be scolded for making the baby cry, Kakashi did the only thing he could think off. He sat down in front of the distressed girl and pulled her into his lap, gently stroking the ridiculous shade of hair he had ever seen._

" _Don't cry," He said in the gentlest tone he could muster. "You're a good girl aren't you? And good girls don't cry." He didn't know what had pushed him to do so, but he did it anyway._

_And for some odd reason it worked. The girl's sniffles had died down, replaced by happy babbling and smiles._

_Kakashi smiled. "You're a good girl. Aren't you Sakura-chan?"_

_Sakura giggled and held onto him tighter. His presence making the baby forget her earlier distress. Kakashi smiled and hugged the baby, loving the warmth she possessed. He reached for the blanket while keeping his hold on the girl steady then proceeded on wrapping the large blanket on them both._

" _See it's not scary anymore? No more danger."_

_Sakura cooed and snuggled up to him, yawning as she rested her head on his chest._

_Kakashi smiled and leaned back, getting comfortable as the small girl held onto his shirt._

' _Maybe she wasn't so bad… even if her hair is pink.'_

_._

_._

_._

" _Oh my." Sachiko hid a smile behind her hand as she entered the room._

" _Sachiko-san, sorry for the—"Sachiko shushed her new friend and gestured towards the pair in the living room. "S-Satoshi-kun! Get the camera!"_

" _Huh? Camera?" Satoshi, confused at his wife's sudden actions, entered the house with Sakumo in tow. "What's going—" He froze by the door frame staring at the scene before him._

_Sachiko giggled and joined her husband's amusement as they stared at their supposedly anti-social son who was currently fast asleep covered with a fluffy pink blanket with an adorable pink haired baby girl napping on his chest, looking completely happy with her thumb in her mouth._

" _Well," Sakumo chuckled. "I guess we're going to be hearing wedding bells pretty soon." He joked towards the shell shocked Satoshi._

" _W-W-W-Wedding Bells!?"_

_Sachiko giggled. "I guess we're in-laws now."_

" _In-laws!?"_

" _Shh!" Hanako returned with a camera and pushed her sputtering husband aside. "You'll wake them up! Go outside and help move in the heavy stuff!"_

_The Hatake pair could only watch in amusement as the man of the house was exiled to lifting duty while the wife continued on taking pictures from various angles of the adorable sleeping pair that laid in their living room._

_Oh yes, The Hatake and Haruno families were going to be such great friends._

\---

Link: [x](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9595859/1/Not-Interested)


	2. Still Not Interested

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in which sakura is kaichou and kakashi is a baka

A blissful moan escaped his lips as a pair of soft lips trailed the side of his neck in a delicious tantalizing manner. He could feel the soft feather like touches that nimble fingers had made across the expanse of his bare chest. He grunted in pleasure as he turned to his side allowing the sinfully erotic ministrations to continue. He hummed in appraisal as his partner’s lips descended on his person. He opened one eye to see his current lover only to be blinded by his own shock of silver hair. Lazily, He brought a hand up to push his bangs away from his line of vision and froze when the girl on top of him giggled and greeted him a wonderful morning.

“Good morning handsome,” She smiled and brought her lips to meet his in a chaste kiss.

His eyes snapped open. _‘Shit’_

The moment her lips parted his, everything became clear.

Last night’s party

A drinking contest with Genma

The stupid bet

Him winning the stupid bet

‘ _Damn it…’_ He groaned in annoyance and allowed the rare action of slapping a hand on his face in order to berate himself for fucking up once again under the influence of alcohol. It wasn’t the first time this had happen. A woman, whose name he never bothered on remembering, lying naked in his bed. Him waking up with an unbearable headache; It was a scene all too familiar to the twenty-four year old man.

“Hey…you”

She giggled once more. “Hey yourself,” her mussed up bed hair swaying as she brought her face closer and nuzzled his neck.

“Uh...huh…” His eyes glanced towards the wall clock situated near his dresser and mentally breathed out a sigh of relief as the red numbers of 5:40 am stared down at him. He tried to get up only to be halted by a well manicured hand and a pouting brunette on his arm.

“Where are you going? I was hoping for…” She giggled and licked her lips expectantly, “round two.”

His eyes settled onto her face, examining it clearly for the first time and thanked the gods for this woman had met his standards even in an intoxicated state. It took all the willpower he had not to let his gaze fall any lower.

“Listen… babe—“He didn’t want the nameless girl upset with him, so he decided on a safe route and decided on the sleazy pet name in place of her real one.

“I think we should… get up now.”

She seemed disappointed for a moment before getting off his person and grabbing a shirt from the floor, judging from the size it must be his, and declared that she will be making breakfast for the two of them. Panic filled his person as he hastily grabbed the sheets that covered his modesty and had almost tripped, scrambling to get up.

“N-No need!” He yelled towards the open door. “The fridge is practically empty.”

“Nonsense!” She smiled and cocked her hip to the side, showing off her luscious curves. “I’d be happy to whip up something simple.”

He cursed under his breath and managed to pull up his discarded pants and made his way towards his kitchen where he found the girl rummaging through his near empty fridge. He chanced another glance at the clock and had to restrain himself from throwing out the unknown girl.

“Find anything?”

“Boy! You weren’t kidding when you said that your fridge is empty!” She closed the refrigerator door and smirked at him, her eyes twinkling with mischief. “Does that mean we get to skip breakfast and move on to dessert?”

_CrapCrapCrapCrap…_

The words continued to play in his mind as the barely dressed girl crossed the kitchen with a small run and wrapped her arms around his neck bringing her face closer to his.

“Are you ready?” She smirked. “Miamoto-kun?” Kakashi blanched at the fake name he had come up with and chuckled nervously gently removing her hold from of his person.

“Umm… Babe, you see I—“ _want you out of my fucking house right this instant._

Lucky for him a loud crashing noise from the living room caught their attention.

“H-How could you…?” The barely dressed pair looked up to see a teary eyed girl clutching her skirt in attempts to restrain herself collapse onto the floor where a number of groceries laid scattered by her feet. “How could you do this to me Moto-kun?” The girl proceeded to bawl louder and cover her face in anguish as the pair hastily separated.

“Y-You have a girlfriend!?” The scantily clad woman yelled in outrage. Kakashi had the decency to look ashamed.

“Oh my _god!”_ She pushed passed him and moved into the bedroom, eager to gather her clothes and get out of this apartment.

“Men! Flash them some skin and they’ll lose reason!” A crash was heard, “And here I thought I finally found a decent guy!” She emerged from the room wearing a tight skirt and a pink camisole a glare occupying her pretty face and without missing a beat the girl slapped him across the face and made sure that it would leave a mark. “You fucking asshole”

She sent the still crying girl a pitying look and whispered an apology as well a warning to break up with the motherfucking son of a bitch right now because he didn’t deserve the company of a good girl like her. She sent the man a withering glare that promised death and left the scene. The sound of the front door slamming echoed around his large apartment and soon after, silence ensued.

He sighed and ran a hand over his face, showing how utterly exhausted the whole ordeal had made him and collapsed on the kitchen counter.

He looked over to the girl and smiled wearily. “Nice save...”

“… Just help me pick these up.”

\--

Kakashi emerged from his bedroom with a towel draped over his shoulders, drying his hair. He yawned and headed over to the laundry room in search of some clean clothes to wear and settled for one of his button-up dress shirts as well as some dark pants. He exited the room, his bare feet padding across the cold floor with heavy steps. He entered the dining area with another yawn and plopped down on one of the chairs. He let his head fall down on the flat surface of his table with an audible bang and groaned in frustration; hangovers were spawns of Satan.

“You know…” A soft voice entered as well as the sweet aroma of freshly brewed coffee. “I’m getting sick and tired of playing the victimized housewife.”

He chuckled nervously and accepted the cup of his daily sustenance with a sheepish smile. “Sorry about that,” He took a brought the cup closer and inhaled the sweet aroma of caffeine. “Miamoto-kun was just a bit drunk last night.” He tried to play it off as a joke but the frown sent his way quickly shut him up.

“This is really getting old,” She sighed. “for a man your age, isn’t it a bit embarrassing to have your high school student bail you out from a messy break up with your supposedly one-night stands?” She placed the some sandwiches on the table and joined him with an irritated scowl. “Really Hatake-sensei, doesn’t this tire you out?”

He made a move to grab one of the sandwiches only to have his hand slapped away. “Ow!”

Green eyes narrowed at the older male and made a sound of disapproval. “Hatake!”

He groaned and dropped his head on the table while he massaged his temples. “Stop shouting…” He sighed and sent her a tired stare. “Really Sakura-chan, I’m still your sensei… at least show some respect.” He pinched the bridge of his nose in poor attempts to alleviate the joys of having a hangover at a school day with a small frown.

If looks could kill, he would have already been buried six feet under.

“A man who needs to use a sixteen year old girl in order to get rid of unwanted company deserves no respect.”

He stared at her for a long while. “Harsh…”

Sakura ignored him and walked towards the living room.

“What are you even doing here?” He called out, thankful that he was finally getting some of his breakfast. “I thought you didn’t want anyone finding out that you’re friends with me?”

She entered the dining space one more, this time holding out the standard cardigan included in their uniform set. “I don’t. I just left my jacket here when I delivered those papers from Tsunade-sama. I can’t go to school wearing incomplete uniform.”

He chuckled and brought his mug up in mock salute. “Ah, as expected of the ever perfect president of Konoha High!”

The blank stare he received was enough of a warning to his person.

“Okaa-san sent over some leftovers. I’ve left them in the fridge for you.” She grabbed her bag from the kitchen counter and checked herself on a nearby mirror, adjusting her ribbon and fixing her long hair. “I also bought some stuff to put in that damn empty fridge of yours, god knows how long you’ll live if you keep eating those disgusting store bought bentos and instant ramen.”

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. “I’m heading over to school now.”

Kakashi glanced at his clock and saw that it was still early. “Now?”

“I’ve got some unfinished paperwork to deal with.” She was already by the door setting aside her indoor shoes and making a move to put her school shoes on. “Not everyone has the luxury to be tardy as you do.”

He laughed and patted her on the head. “You’re always working too hard.”

“I’m not” She swatted his hand away and opened the door. “Goodbye sensei.”

“See you la—“The door was slammed shut. “—ter.’

He frowned and stuffed the rest of his sandwich in his mouth and proceeded to button up his shirt. He dragged himself towards the living room and collapsed onto the couch with a loud sigh.

“When did she stop being cute?”

Kakashi had to remind himself that his little Sakura-chan never stopped being cute. As a matter of fact the cute little girl who he teased endlessly has grown into quite the looker as the years gone by. Her pink hair that caused her a lot of grief as a child has grown reaching the small of her back and has now turned into one of her best assets. Her large expressive eyes grew wiser and showed intelligence of that way beyond her years. Her naïve and cheerful demeanor changed into that of a no-nonsense and stern attitude. He had to smile remembering the achievements the little tyke had achieved as soon as she stepped into middle school.

She was the top of her batch, the teacher’s favorite regardless of what subject. A young prodigy as most would call her. She had joined the local dojo, quickly rising the ranks with one of the legendary sannins taking her on as her apprentice. A natural born leader who had been elected president by both faculty and student body of the school; She was the first freshman to have been appointed president and has been holding the title for two consecutive years. He sighed once more remembering the sweet little girl who used to follow him around and nag on him like a fretting wife when he had picked up on the habit of smoking from Asuma but now treats him like a total stranger.

“Is this what parents with teenagers feel like?” He mused with a small chuckle.

He won’t lie.

He misses his little Sakura-chan. He misses the way she would hold his hand when they would walk home together. He misses the way she would fuss on him whenever she sensed that there was something wrong. He misses the times she would timidly come over and ask to play.

But most of all, He misses her being _there._

Granted the girl comes from time to time with presents from both his and her parents. But it wasn’t like she stayed to chat with him like they would in the old days. He couldn’t help but remember the first time it happened.

He had just celebrated his third year of teaching at Konoha High as a history professor and Sakura was an upcoming first year. Kakashi was there when the Hatake and Haruno family celebrated the momentous occasion, Sakura reaching high school and him being offered the job of head teacher of the history department.

It was a small party at some fancy restaurant in a hotel.

He remembered seeing Sakura all dressed up in that pretty red dress of hers with her hair pinned up in a fancy pony tail. His parents had joked with the Haruno couple while he offered some of his as well every now and then. Sakura remained painfully polite, speaking only when spoken to and choosing not to partake any more than that. The dinner was somewhat awkward yet tolerable. Her mother had suggested about her living with him so as to make her commute easier and for her to easily ease in to high school. He was prepared to shoot down the idea seeing as how highly inappropriate it was without really needing to point it out but the girl beat him to it.

He could still feel the sting in her words when she had spoken.

_“That won’t be necessary. I can commute to school fine, and besides I’m sure Kakashi-san—“_

It was also around that time that –kun got replaced with –san.

_“—would find the presence of a sixteen year old in his apartment to be a nuisance,”_

She wasn’t done yet though.

_“And frankly I wouldn’t want to be caught seen with an educator from my school. Not only is it highly inappropriate but it would also serve as fuel to the gossip mill of people with nothing better to do with their lives.”_

He remembered the look she sent him from across the table.

_“I’m sure rumors that will greatly affect our standings in school are best be avoided, right Kakashi-san?”_

He didn’t know what came over him when he agreed. In fact he disagreed. Okay, He agreed the with the point she was making but he didn’t agree when she decided that their friendship will be close to nonexistent the moment she started calling him sensei. It came quite shock to him when the girl started ignoring his whole existence and maintained little to no contact of whatsoever with him.

At school she was professional; addressing him only when matters call for it, while outside she kept everything short and curt. Meeting with her became both mentally and physically draining, he had to push the girl away despite his internal turmoil just to avoid getting a serious headache.

A soft whine brought him back to his senses and he glanced down to see his pug Pakkun with a doggy dish dangling from its mouth.

“And where have you been you little mutt?” He grabbed the pug by the scruff of its neck and brought him closer to his face to deliver an angry glare. The pug barked and licked his nose in poor attempts to appease his master.

“I was getting yelled at by Sakura and you weren’t there to bail me out!” He scolded while carrying him into the kitchen.

Pakkun looked up at him with a bored stare that seemed to say: _Do I look like I give a shit? Feed me human._

The pug squirmed out from his hold and barked, eagerly waiting for breakfast. Kakashi sighed and filled the bowl with the left over sandwiches, having lost his appetite from going down memory lane. He glanced at the clock and dubbed that it was still too early for his standards to be late. He headed into his room and decided to tidy up a bit just in case his mother will drop by with her monthly inspections, as he’d like to call it, and be free of threatening sticky notes that she likes to place on random spots.

He watered his plant by the window sill and grabbed his bag from his desk before heading over to the front door. He patted the pug on his way out and ordered him to keep guard of the place, grabbing his keys from the bowl near the shoe rack he locked the door behind him and was greeted by his elderly neighbor who seemed to be coming back from grocery shopping. The old woman offered him an apple which he gladly accepted with a smile and wished her a good day. The elevator arrived just in time and he got in with a couple of elementary students who were texting on their phone and didn’t even bother to greet him. He ignored the pair and watched the double doors close in front of him and waited for his floor.

Kakashi felt his pocket buzz and fished out his phone to see that he had received a text message from their vice principal. He read the message with a chuckle and bit into the apple that was given to him. The vice principal had sent him a reminder that there was a meeting and he was only allowed an hour of delay today or else he was fired. He glanced at his watch and decided that it would be fun to see the reaction of his students if he was actually on time today. The elevator dinged and he looked up to see that he was already in the basement parking lot.

He found his car in its usual parking space and unlocked it. His phone vibrated once more but he decided to ignore it for a while and exited the grounds of his condo. It was at a traffic light when he decided to check up on the mail and was shocked to see that it was from Sakura.

_I’m at K – stationary store, pick me up._

-Sakura H.

He cursed under his breath having passed the turn that lead to the shopping district and speeded up to take the next turn.

“I thought she was already at school!”

With one hand he picked up his phone and replied that he was already nearing the district. He parked near along the entrance and decided to search for her rather than have her walk outside. The stationary store was located farther back into the area but he found the girl near the food court with a couple of students from another school, judging by their appearance they might have been seniors from the neighboring school of Suna.

He stopped and raised a brow in question at the scene. _‘Friends?’_ He decided to let the situation play out before interfering knowing that he could be mistaken and get thrown in jail for touching a minor.

Sakura was sitting in one of the benches with a bunch of bags surrounding her. Her face was blank but the small quirk from her lips indicated the irritation she felt. “Please go away.”

“Hey, hey” One of the males stood too close for her liking. “Are you skipping? If so, how about coming with us?”

Another laughed and pushed aside her bags taking a seat besides her. Kakashi noted how Sakura’s eyes narrowed when her purchased items hit the ground and some items fell out. “We’ll take you to Karaoke and get something good if you want.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Her voice was curt and the polite smile on her face was quite misleading. “I’m waiting for someone.”

“Your boyfriend?” The third spoke up with a smirk, “I don’t see him anywhere though.” He pretended to look around, and laughed when his friends went along with his antics.

Sakura picked up her bags and smiled once more, albeit a little bit forced. “He’s not here yet.”

“But we are,” The first one pulled her closer to him with a chuckle; he tipped her chin in order to meet her eyes and offered a sly wink. “And we don’t want to leave a pretty girl alone.”

Sakura growled and pushed the male away from her person, effectively making him fall to the ground and glared. “Don’t touch me!”

“Hey, calm down!” one of them said. “We just wanted to make friends with you, no need to get violent!”

Another one helped the fallen moron up with a mocking laugh. “You okay there Aka-chin?”

‘Aka-chin’ pushed his offered hand away and glared back at the pink haired girl who glared right back. “You bitch! Do you know who I am?”

Sakura was about to open her mouth to retort when one of the males cam behind her and grabbed her arms in place. Her captor laughed and held on tighter, “Sorry for you girlie, you pissed off Akashi!”

“Let me go!”

Akashi smirked and stood up, dusting his pants as he did. “You messed with the wrong people pinky.”

Sakura frowned at the nickname. “I said, let me go.”

“No way, you haven’t even properly apologized yet. What if I broke something huh?”

She was losing her patience. In her mind, she played the perfect escape plan. It was easy to escape from the boy holding her from behind; a quick twist of her body will easily surprise the taller male enough to have him release her. After that, a well deserved kick can be delivered to this Akashi-guy for all the trouble he caused and if any of his buddies tried to interrupt, she had already prepared the necessary counter-attack to fend off these creeps. But a quick glance down at her uniform and all plans of revenge disappeared. She was wearing her school colors, anyone within the area would immediately recognize her as a student of Konoha and any form of violence conducted by a student will eventually be heard by the board of education and expulsion of said student will be undeniably certain.

She bit her lip in annoyance and muttered out an apology through gritted teeth.

“Hmm? What was that?” Akashi grinned. “I couldn’t hear you over all this noise!” His friends laughed only adding fuel to the irritation she felt.

Sakura glared at him. “I’m sorry. Please. Let me go.”

He laughed. “Now that wasn’t too hard was it?”

His friends laughed along as Akashi motioned for his friend to let her go with a simple nod. Sakura tore away from the boy’s hold and massaged her wrist, thanking the gods that the guy was careful enough not to leave some bruises. “Thank you.”

Akashi smirked and took her by the hand. “Now how about that drink—“

“Okay!” The teens looked over to see a middle aged man with a shock of silver hair approaching with a warm smile. “I think that’s enough out of you kiddies.”

“Hatake-sensei,”

At the mention of the title the males immediately put some respectable distance between them and their former target. “H-Hey we weren’t doing anything wrong! We just wanted to help her!”

“T-That’s right! She had all these stuff that needed to be carried!”

Kakashi smiled. “Well wasn’t that nice of them, Haruno-san?”

Sakura ignored the male and walked over to her fallen items, inspecting if they had damaged it in any way. She sighed in relief when she found nothing amiss and picked them up with ease. “Yes sensei.”

“S-See! We weren’t doing anything wrong.” Akashi backed away slowly along with his buddies. “Well then, I guess we will be going now!”

Kakashi laughed. “Of course, school will begin soon and you guys wouldn’t want to be late,”

“Y-Yeah, sure so—“

“That’s why I called an old friend of mine from Suna High to pick you boys up. You do know Baki-san right?”

At the mention of the Spartan head of discipline the students of Suna paled and gulped audibly. They stared at the smiling silver haired male then towards the black van that pulled up by the districts entrance. The front window rolled down and a very scary looking male slowly motioned for them to climb aboard.

Kakashi smiled. “Have a safe trip!”

\--

“…If you were watching the whole time why didn’t you bother helping me the moment those creeps approached me?”

Kakashi sighed. “I didn’t know they _weren’t_ your friends.”

“I don’t make friends with creeps.”

“Sorry to say, creeps or not, there are laws about adults harming children. I wasn’t about to get my ass thrown into jail because of a misunderstanding.”

Sakura fastened her seatbelt with a dry laugh. “Says the man who makes it a point to create a misunderstanding everywhere he went.”

Kakashi frowned. “Hey.”

She stayed silent after that. Kakashi focused his attention towards the road, already hating the decision of coming to pick her up. The girl made it clear that she wanted no one finding out about their so called relationship and she does things like this. He suppressed the tired sigh that was bubbling up inside his throat but the girl beat him to it.

Sakura sighed. “What were you even doing there in the first place?”

_Say what now?_

“What? You were the one who told me to come and get you!”

“I did nothing of this sort!”

Kakashi frowned and pulled out his phone, tossing it to her lap. “You sent me a damned text message asking me to drive you back to school!”

Sakura frowned and placed his phone on the dashboard of the vehicle. “That’s impossible I left my phone at school with…!”

“…Tsunade-sama?” He asked.

She frowned but nodded all the same. “Tsunade-sama…”

Kakashi sighed. “That woman doesn’t really know when to stop does she?”

Sakura didn’t reply but the slight twitch from her lips showed that she agreed with him whole heartedly.

“You should really stop leaving your phone when you go out,” He as they came towards a stop light. “You’ll never know when things like this might happen again.”

She frowned. “I could’ve handled it myself.”

Kakashi scoffed. “And risk tainting the name of Konoha? I don’t think so.”

Sakura glared him.

“Hey, don’t look at me like that.” He scolded. “We both know you could’ve handled the situation but you hesitated…”

“Shut up.”

“…And haven’t you learned that hesitation often leads to mistakes. I think Tsunade-sama needs to re-educate her little pupil.” He teased.

“STOP THE CAR!”

Kakashi looked surprised for a moment but immediately moved to park when he saw the girl shaking with silent anger. “Sakura, I didn’t—“

“I’m walking the rest of the way,” She unbuckled her seatbelt and bent down to gather her purchased item. “I don’t want anyone to see us arriving to school together.” She opened the door and closed it shut behind her. Kakashi frowned and rolled down the windows.

“Thank you for your kindness, _Hatake-sensei.”_

She began walking away and he could only stare at her retreating back. It was only then when she disappeared from the corner that he let his head drop on the steering wheel, not caring if his car horn disrupted the peace of the whole vicinity.

“…I’m such a fucking idiot…”


	3. Friendship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> friends are assholes but you love 'em anyway

“You _are_ a fucking idiot.”

“Shut up.”

Genma laughed at that. “Stop pouting, a man your age has no right to pout.”

“I’m not pouting.”

He stole a glance towards his long time friend and noted with unveiled amusement the small frown his normally blank face was sporting right now. Genma chuckled and pulled out a packet of smoke from his back pocket with a teasing smirk. “Of course you’re not.”

“You know you aren’t allowed to smoke on school grounds.”

Genma frowned. “Fuck. What are you my mother?”

Iruka laughed and snatched the packet away from him. “Confiscated. _Taisen-sensei_ , you know the rules.”

“I can smoke when I want to, _Umino-sensei_.” Genma made a move to retrieve his daily dose of vice but failed miserably when the shorter male crushed the packet in his hands with the smile that made all their students love him as the warm-hearted kind teacher that he was.

“…You better buy me a new pack later.”

Iruka laughed and deposited the now ruined packet into the garbage shoot. “Will do, but please remember that smoking is strictly prohibited on school grounds.”

Genma sighed. “Yeah, yeah… if only you could convince Asuma to do the same.”

“Convince me what?”  

Kakashi glanced at the new arrival and laughed when he saw the unlit cigar dangling between his lips. “That smoking is strictly prohibited on school grounds.”

Asuma laughed. “Have you ever seen my old man _without_ his pipe?” He pulled out a lighter and took a long drag with a satisfied grin. “How can you even take that rule seriously with the principal smoking like there’s no tomorrow?”

Iruka chuckled. “Rules are rules though,”

“Hai, Hai.” Genma shrugged with a shake of his head. “As always Umino-sensei’s a stickler to the rules.”

Kakashi grinned. “Remember the time he got caught when we went to the pool?”

Iruka glared. “Correction: You guys left me to take the blame when _you_ tried to sneak in the pool.”

Asuma chuckled at the memory. “Oh man! You looked like you were about to piss yourself when the security guard asked your name!”

“God! Did you remember how he started crying when they took him in the station?” Genma laughed harder.

Iruka sighed and collapsed on the roof railing. “Please don’t remind me… My mother laughed all the way home.”

All four of them burst out in laughter remembering the hilarious antics of Mrs. Umino. Iruka’s mother was always the coolest one of their parents.

“So,” Asuma pulled out a lighter and glanced at Genma. “What were you and Hatake talking about?”

Genma grinned. “How much of a fucking idiot he is.”

“Nothing new there,”

Kakashi sighed and stared out to the field where the track club was doing laps. “Sakura hates me.”

“Again,” Asuma took a long drag of smoke. “Nothing new there.”

Iruka spared him a comforting smile. “I’m sure she doesn’t hate—“

“She had to do the victimized housewife skit again…”

Genma stared at him. “Well shit… That’s the what?” He spared the other two a glance. “Third?”

“Fourth.”

“—fourth time this past two months?” He smirked. “You know you really should get that spare key from her.”

Kakashi frowned. “I can’t do that, Sakura’s family and…”

“We all know how close you and pinky are,” Asuma sighed. “Half our high school afternoons were spent playing princess and parties.”

Genma frowned. “I still don’t remember how we got stuck babysitting her most of the times.”

“You had a crush on Haruno-san remember?”

“…Oh yeah,” Genma grinned as he remembered the red-haired woman who welcomed them to her home for afternoon tea and snacks.

“I don’t blame you though,” Asuma smirked, “Even now Hana-san can still turn some heads.”

“Yeah… Hey did you see her at the PTA meeting last week?”

Iruka shook his head in exasperation and turned to Kakashi who stopped his moping to stare at the other two with unveiled disgust.

“You did apologize right?”

“Huh?”

Iruka glared. “You apologized to Sakura-chan right?”

Kakashi looked at him, confusion and anger flashing through his face. “Of course I did! What kind of heartless bastard do you think I am!?”

Genma flicked him on the side of his head. “Doesn’t matter if you apologize to her, and judging you, your version of apologizing is just too…”

“Stupid to accept?” Asuma supplied.

“Not the phrase I would use but yeah,” Genma laughed. “People usually get punched by half-assed apologies, especially the ones coming from you.”

Kakashi glared.

A moment of silence passed before Iruka sighed and sent the silver haired male a long hard stare. “How _did_ it happen?”

Kakashi looked confused, “It was a one-night stand,” He explained. “Sakura was—“

“Not that,” Iruka thumped him at the back of the head. “How did Sakura-chan start to hate you?”

“Yeah,” Genma had a cigarette hanging between his lips. “We weren’t close as her as you were but she liked us enough,” He remembered in their younger days, Sakura was always with them and would fondly address them as her older brothers as she did with Kakashi. “All of a sudden she barely glances our way and turns into a whole different person,” He sighed. “Pinky used to be so sweet and fluffy,”

“I…” Kakashi sighed. “I don’t know…”

“There has to be a reason,” Iruka frowned. “Sakura-chan was, still is a sweet kid. No one changes over night.”

Genma chuckled. “Maybe she finally realized how weird Kakashi was for spending time with a girl almost twice her age.”

Said man punched him in the arm.

“Fucking hell man!” Genma growled. “And you wonder why pinky hates you!”

“Speaking of Pinky,” Asuma cocked his side towards the direction of the field with a smirk.

Sakura was walking in front of her convoy of student officers with a frown marring her pretty features. Her long hair was tied up into a high pony tail and her uniform, as always, impeccably perfect. The Hyuuga boy was flanking her right side, the perfect picture of stern while Uchiha Sasuke stood at her left; looking annoyed and bored by the whole scenario. 

The four educators leaned on the railings of the roof top trying to get a better look at the scenario.

“Looks like it’s time for the afternoon scolding courtesy of Konoha’s own Student council president!” Genma did his best interpretation of a game show host and laughed when they clapped in good humor.

Asuma grinned and cleared his throat, “On today’s episode, Konoha Academy’s very own Track team!”

Iruka shook his head, but the smile on his face remained. “So, what’s the issue this time?”

“Students were complaining about trash being left on the field after their morning practices,” Kakashi explained. “Sakura came by the office awhile ago asking Tsunade permission to address the issue how she deemed fit,”

“Meaning public humiliation?”

Kakashi smirked. “Could be,”

Genma grinned. “Show’s starting!”

They watched as a tall male approached Sakura with a glare. Sakura stood her ground with her arms crossed over her chest. Iruka recognize the taller male as the captain of the Track club, Hidenori Aki-kun. Hidenori started talking down at the pink haired girl with a glare on his face, probably pissed about practice being interrupted especially now that they are nearing the regional tournament. Sakura stared at him hard as he continued to rant, her face giving off nothing to show what she was really feeling, though her companions weren’t too okay with the upperclassman spitting into the face of a colleague they respected. Uchiha was glaring at the guy, willing for the idiot to suddenly combust into flames and Hyuuga shifted his stance, looking ready to pounce at any given moment.

“Oho… Look Pinky’s angry,” Genma smirked.

“How can you tell?”

Kakashi chuckled and rested his cheek over his fist. “She’s smiling.”

Sakura smiled at the taller male and gestured behind towards the track and field members who were sprawled around the area sweating and panting. She said something, probably addressing the problem at once; Sakura wasn’t one to beat around the bush. The senior seemed to take offense to whatever she had said and started screaming, students on their way home were starting to gather near the sidelines. Sakura stared at him, waiting for him to finish. Hidenori began to walk away but Sakura said something that made him stop. Before any of them could blink, some of the younger track members where holding onto their furious captain who was thrashing, trying to get to the pink haired president.

“She really turned into a stone cold bitch.”

Iruka frowned and slapped him on the back of his head. “Don’t call her that,”

“Ow!” He whined. “What? I don’t mean anything bad by it!” Asuma chuckled. “If anything, it’s a compliment. She’s totally bad-ass.”

“Shit, He broke free.”

For a moment time seemed to stop for Kakashi when he watched as the much taller male ran towards Sakura. He heard Iruka exclaim something in shock and he was about to run down there but Genma’s laughter stopped him from doing anything drastic. Turning his attention back towards the scene below them, a laugh escaped his lips before he could do anything else.

Sakura had the senior pinned to the ground, his face full of dirt and the much smaller girl, kneeling beside his prone form. Her hands had his wrist subdued and a glare was directed to him. Sakura was speaking again and the boy below her struggled to break free, but no luck on his side today.

Asuma chuckled. “And thus concludes another episode of public scolding,” He dropped his finished cigarette and crushed it under his shoes. “I’m heading home.”

“Me too,” Genma sighed and made a move to follow him to the door. “Papers to grade, parents to call…”

Kakashi, however, stayed on the spot. “See you tomorrow.”

Asuma and Genma headed towards the door while Iruka spared him a smile.

“…What?”

“Just…” Iruka sighed. “Just talk to her okay? Sakura-chan is a good kid, I know that—“

_Hey! Is this thing on!? Sakura-chan! I finished the thing you wanted me to do! Let’s go home already!_

The two educators shared a look before simultaneously dropping their head in exasperation.

“That idiot…”

Iruka groaned. “Naruto… Sakura really has her hands full with council duties; I see the lights on in her office even when I pull overtime.” He elbowed Kakashi in the gut. “Take care of her better.”

“Ow,” He rubbed the sore spot. “I can’t even come within 20 feet of her during school hours.”

Iruka glanced at his watch. “Well according to my watch… School ended an hour ago.”

“Go home.” Kakashi shooed him off. “But before that make sure Sakura didn’t kill Naruto.”

Iruka laughed. “See you tomorrow, Hatake-sensei.”

 


	4. Stubbornness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For some reason, interaction between Kakashi and Sasuke has been a thing for me.

“See you tomorrow Hatake-sensei!”

Kakashi nodded towards the students walking passed him with a small smile. “Don’t talk to strangers and look both ways before crossing!”

They laughed at that.

“What’s with that?”

“What are we elementary students?”

“We will!”

He chuckled and shooed them off with a small smile. “Go home!”

The three girls giggled and chorused an overly peppy “Hai!” and headed down the hall, pushing and giggling as they went.

He sighed and ran a hand through his silver locks. Flipping his record book open, he checked if he had anything to deal with this afternoon and grinned when he found his schedule free from private tutoring and detention duty. He hummed a familiar tune he heard earlier on the radio as he peeked in each classroom to check if anyone was still inside and grinned when he found none. He slipped into the room wordlessly and pulled out a chair as he settled in the desk on the farthest corner. Kakashi stared out the window overlooking the courtyard and watched the students slowly disappear from school grounds.

He glanced behind him and smirked when he saw the door still closed and stood up to push one of the windows open. He sighed and shrugged off his jacket before loosening the tie around his neck as he pulled out his cigarette packet from behind his back pocket and grabbed a stick with his teeth.

“Smoking is prohibited on school grounds.”

“Shit!”

Kakashi shoved the packet inside the table and snatched the stick from his mouth. A nervous laugh escaped his lips and his mind wracked for excuses. “Ahaha…this is not what it looks like...Oh.”

Sasuke smirked. “Hey _sensei_.”

“Ha-ha,” He pulled out a lighter. “Very funny,”

Sasuke’s smirk didn’t drop as he made his way towards the disgruntled adult. “I meant what I said about smoking not being allowed on school grounds.”

Kakashi lit the cigar and sighed in bliss when the euphoric taste of nicotine filled his senses. “Don’t care.”

The raven haired teen laughed and joined him by his place near the window reached for the packet with a tired sigh. “You know smoking in front of a student destroys your reputation as a teacher.”

Kakashi chuckled. “What reputation? The one where I’m a major pervert? Or the one with the ex-mafia shit?”

Sasuke frowned and pulled out a stick of cigarette. “These things kill you by the minute.”

“Well…I’m an adult who makes adult decision,” He exhaled and smoke clouded his vision. “My cute little student doesn’t need to worry about me.”

Sasuke scoffed, shoving the stick back into the carton and throwing the packet back to the silver haired male. “Some adult.”

“Let a man have his vices,” He chided. “The life of a high school teacher is much more stressful than you would think.” He reached to ruffle his raven locks as he would have done in the past but the teen moved away from his touch and glared.

“Don’t mess up my hair.” Sasuke growled. “And stop treating me like a little kid! I’m already seventeen.”

Kakashi smirked. “And yet all I see is that spoiled little boy with the brother complex who still wouldn’t leave my little pinky alone.”

“S-Shut up!” Sasuke blushed. “I don’t have a brother complex! And Sakura’s not yours either!”

He laughed at that. “Hai, hai. Sasuke-kun should know when sensei is joking.”

Sasuke scowled and ran a hand through his raven locks. “We were kids, and Sakura just came into our lives at that time looking like some pretty toy.”

“A toy you say?” Kakashi smirked. “My, my Sasuke-kun Sakura would be heartbroken to hear you say that after all these years.”

A look of horror flashed through his face as he stuttered out an excuse taking it all back.

Kakashi laughed. “Haha, calm down, you know Sakura and I don’t talk much. So my lips are pretty much sealed.”

Sasuke released an  exasperated sigh and collapse on one of the nearby chairs. “Don’t tease me like that…” He buried his face into the crook of his arms and groaned. “It’s not funny.”

‘It really is though,’ Kakashi thought as he smiled and ruffled his locks. “You and Naruto were pretty cute back then,” He laughed. “Always following me and Sakura around like little  puppies.”

“We weren’t following you.” Sasuke smacked his hand away. “You just happen to be there every time we played together… you pedophile.”

Kakashi flicked him on the forehead. “Oi.”

“Ita-!” Sasuke glared and moved away. “Damn old man.”

Kakashi laughed. “Respect your elders Sasu-chan.”

Sasuke flinched at the mention of his old nickname and moved towards the door. “I’m heading home! Just finish your damn rounds and stop smoking you perverted sensei!”

Kakashi grinned and shooed him off. “Will do!”

Sasuke paused at the door and glanced at him over his shoulder. “…She’s sent me and Hyuuga home again,” He turned to fully stare at him once more. “Naruto tried to peal her off from her desk but she wouldn’t budge.”

“…Really now,” Kakashi killed his cigarette and ran a hand over his face. “Is she doing budget reports again?”

Sasuke shook his head. “Appeals for club money.”

“How many this time?”

“A couple of hundreds.”

Kakashi sighed. “That girl…”

The final warning bell sounded.

“I’d better get going, Nii-san is waiting for me by the station.” Sasuke glanced at the clock and slid the door open. “Just… Do what you always do.”

“I’m not allowed to go near her at school remember?”

Sasuke looked back and smirked. “School ended an hour ago.”

Kakashi watched as he walked away, leaving the door open. He stared at the door and noted as his student’s footsteps grew fainter by the second.

“You’re the second person to tell me that.”

* * *

Kakashi allowed his head to land on his desk with a painful thud. “Ow…”

He angled his head so he could glare at the pitiful excuse of an essay his students had given him. Sluggishly he reached for a red marking pen, ready to pass on divine judgment to his idiotic students. Starting with one Uzumaki Naruto-san. He eyed the first sentence with disdain and sighed as he encircles the words “Dattebayo!” When will this child learn that essay writing must not include his ever present catchphrase?

He scanned the rest of the paper encircling more grammatical mistakes as he does and laughs at the crudely drawn picture of what seems to be the blond himself plus a disfigured blob with a frown with spiky hair that was supposed to be Sasuke and a red mess of squiggles with hearts around it. He scribbled some insults directed on the drawing with an arrow pointed at it. After that he places the paper on his “done” side and set out to finish grading the papers. Ten passable and twenty disgraceful papers later, he stretched on his seat and let out a long sigh of relief as he was finally done. He glanced at the clock and groaned when he saw the time.

8:30 P.M.

“Friday night and I have nothing else better to do...” He shoved some papers in his bag and searched for his keys while he shoves the graded papers into his work desk. “I should’ve just brought this stuff home.”

He locked the door behind him as he exited the office and walked through the dark halls of the empty school. He fiddled with his phone, checking for new messages as he went and stopped short when he saw a text from a certain pink haired girl’s mother.

_Kakashi-kun! I do hope that Sakura delivered the stuff I asked her to give you. That girl is too busy for a high school student. How have you been?_

_Anyways I would like to ask you if you could keep an eye out on Sakura today, she had been running a slight fever last night but she insists on coming to school. Something about a sport team was it? I know Sakura doesn’t want you being bothered by her but please see it that she comes home fine, my stubborn daughter._

_Come visit soon! Satoshi-kun wants to have you over for dinner to discuss about the game this Sunday!_

_-H. Hanako-san_

He stared blankly at the screen of his phone before sighing. His eyes traveled to the dark building adjacent to his position and stared at the lone room with the light still on.

“That little brat.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading :)


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter.

-

He could hear himself panting as he ran up another flight of stairs. Why was he even running? The girl had made it clear that she wanted nothing to do with him. He grabbed the railing when he almost tripped himself, letting out an embarrassing yelp. The halls were dark and the only source of lighting he had were the lights outside. Another flight of stairs and he could feel his lungs begging for air, he hadn’t done any exercise for so long that a couple flights of stairs was already giving him hell. When he reached the top floor, his pace started to slow before settling into a full stop. He hunched over and had his hands on his knees as he tried to calm down his breathing.

He ran a hand through his hair and sighed _. ‘What the hell am I doing?’_

Kakashi glanced up and stared at the open room on the end of the hall, light streaming into the darkness. He stood on his spot unsure what to do next.

“Damn it…” He crouched down and clutched his aching head. “I’m such an idiot.”

He glanced up at the door again.

He had two options: one, go inside that room and make sure the girl who made it crystal clear that she wanted no involvement with him of any form or kind was okay and try to convince her to let him take her home or two, just turn around and go home, pretend not to have seen the text of the bane of his existence and just visit the household soon with a bottle of sake and a bouquet of flowers for the parents of said girl. He sat on the floor and pulled out his phone from his pocket.

8:03 P.M.

He groaned and ruffled his already messy locks. “I don’t even know…”

With another look towards the open door he pushed himself up before turning around and walking to the opposite direction.

What he didn’t expect was a very tired looking Sakura coming up from the stairway with a bunch of canned drinks in her arms. Kakashi cursed inwardly then bolted into one of the empty classrooms before the girl could even notice him. He stuck to the wall and dared not to breathe as he heard her footsteps growing closer.

_‘Crap!’_ He thought. Kakashi held his breath as the sound of her mumbling to herself, numbers and names reaching his ears as she went. His back slid on the wall as he collapsed on the floor with a relieved sigh as the girl passed his hiding spot with a muffled yawn and a grumble of annoyance. He heard the door close and breathed a sigh of relief as he slowly made his way out from his hiding spot.

“…That was close.”

Scratching the back of his neck, the silver haired man exited the empty room and walked back to the direction of the stairs. He resisted the urge to look back when he heard the soft click of a door closing behind him and quietly reached the staircase. Kakashi reached for his phone once more and began formulating an excuse as to why he would not come home with a pink haired girl beside him.

“Maybe I’ll get some of those sweet buns Haruno-san likes…” He mused with a small sigh as he made his way to the staircase. He was careful not to make any noise, knowing how keen the girl he left behind was so observant when it came to sensing people. He skimmed through his messages with bored stare; finding out his inbox was already full with spam and annoying ads.

“Who the hell wants a five foot tall plush—“The sound of books falling followed by a long string of curses that a high school girl should never use stopped him from even finishing his sentence. He glanced back to see the door slightly open and he could still hear Sakura cursing the gods above for whatever misfortune had befall her. He smiled and had to cover his mouth to prevent the laugh that bubbled from his chest. He could still her grumbling as the sounds of books being stacked reached his ears.

He glanced at his phone and back to the door again.

He sighed. “I’m going to regret this aren’t I?”

Kakashi slowly made his way back to the end of the hall, his shoes barely making a sound. He was quiet as he slid the door open and smiled when he found the girl with her back facing him, muttering obscenities as she picked up the fallen books. “Fucking books...” She stood up and headed over to the bookshelf on the other side of the room, still giving no sign of noticing his presence. Kakashi closed the door behind him and looked around the messy office before landing on the girl using a stool to reach a box from the top shelf. He made a move to approach her bet froze in spot when she dropped the heavy box on the floor without remorse.

He coughed. “…Sa—“

“Naruto, if that’s you and Sasuke hiding again I will be forced to suspend you from council duties again,” She sighed and moved to another shelf. “I already told you two to go home and finish the budget reports, I don’t want a repeat of last month’s incident regarding the tennis club and Neji-senpai will—”She still hadn’t looked at him and was moving around once again. Kakashi watched her continue to speak while she re-arranged files. Her eyes were focused on her work that she didn’t even notice him sit down in front of her. He gave a small smile at her dedication and quietly listened to her lecture Naruto and Sasuke as she continued. “—have to punish you two again. He had to clean up your mess when the new equipment they requested for didn’t arrive. You know how much work we have and we can’t afford to lose any extra hands. The School festival will be held two weeks from now, I don’t want you two missing in action. So please just…”

Her eyes finally met his.

Kakashi smiled. “Yo!”

“…Oh,” She frowned, “It’s you.”

Kakashi feigned hurt. “How mean! Sensei just wanted to make sure that his cute little student gets home safely!”

Sakura glared and grabbed a stamp from her right. Kakashi almost jumped in surprise when she brought it down on her desk with unnecessary force. “Hatake-sensei,”

“H-Hai?”

She stared at him long and hard. “Hatake-sensei…” sigh. “Please go home.”

“Hai…” He blinked. “…Eh?”

Sakura started to move about once more and he could only stare at her dumbly trying to process the words she had just said. “W-Wait… you’re not mad at me?”

She didn’t even turn to look at him as she spoke. “Hatake-sensei, I appreciate your concern but I still have no plans of going home yet,” she gestured towards the boxes scattered near his feet. “I have three boxes of paperwork to finish and I have to finish them tonight. The council is already swamped with work especially with the school festival coming up and I don’t want the others to be stuck doing budget reports.”

_‘But you are?’_ He frowned. “Can’t you just take them ho—? “

Sakura cut him off before he could even finish. “If I bring them home, I wouldn’t even be given permission to touch them.” She returned to her desk with another stack of papers and continued skimming through the stacks of papers on her desk. “Okaa-san doesn’t like me bringing paperwork home and Otou-san worries that I’m over-working myself.” She began sorting out her papers and Kakashi could only frown. “Besides, Okaa-san will force bed rest on me as soon I step into the house. I’d rather finish it now than work on it tomorrow. ”

Her phone rang and she ignored it. Kakashi stole a glance on the device and frowned when he saw what was written.

25 unread messages and 12 missed calls.

“Aren’t you going to answer that?” Her phone continued to ring.

She ignore it.

“Sakura… at least answer your phone.”

“Ignore it.”

Kakashi glanced at the clock. “It’s almost nine. Your mother is probably worried sick.”

“I already sent Okaa-san a text saying that I’ll be home late.”

“You know she doesn’t like you sending her text messages.”

“And you know the moment I answer that phone I will be forced to leave my work and head straight home.”

He sat down with an exasperated sigh. “And ignoring her call makes your situation any better?”

“I’d rather have her be mad at me later than now.”

He frowned. “You know your father doesn’t like you staying out past your curfew.”

“I already told Otou-san that I have council work.”

His frown deepened. “And what did he say?”

“…I didn’t read his reply.”

He face-palmed. “Sakura… are you insane?”

She shrugged and continued skimming through her papers.

He eyed her cluttered table in distaste and flinched when she slapped his hand away when he tried to get a paper from her organized mess. Ow.

“You can’t possibly finish all these before—“

Sakura placed a box on one of the tables in the room and grabbed a red marker. “I’ve already finished one box; I can finish the other two in no time,” She wrote the word ‘done’ on the top and turned to him. “I’ll be fine.”

“Sakura…”

“Hatake-sensei…”She sighed. “The school festival is coming up and aside from club budget appeals I have to look over the booths each class had come up with and create a list of alternatives for the classes that had their ideas rejected. I also have to finish all of these tonight because tomorrow because there will be a meeting in the afternoon for all the class presidents to know their class’ designations. Next week the whole council will be departing for a week long leadership training program with Ibiki-sensei. Ibiki-sensei had requested that I do the planning and scheduling for each activity because we would be having a joint camp with the student council of Suna High. I conversed with their student council president and agreed that we split the work evenly with the activities and to let the teachers handle the budget. After that—“

Sakura continued to list off everything she had to do for the week. Kakashi could only stare at her as she simultaneously worked and told him how she would have to organize an exhibition for the various sports team so that outsiders and possibly upcoming freshmen would see the wonders of Konoha’s sport department as requested by Gai-sensei. She then went back to her duties of planning the leadership training program and he could only curse Ibiki in his mind for pushing all the work to Sakura. In his mind he wondered if his old friend Baki would be present as he heard the names Subaku, remembering the man’s fondness of the student during his drunken rants. He watched her move about almost in a daze and jumped back in surprise when she dropped a box on her desk.

“I have work to do, so if you’re not gonna help please leave me be to finish my work.” She dropped a box in the trash bin and made her way back to her desk.

“If that’s the case then…”

Sakura caught the defeat in his tone and hid a smirk when she heard him walking away. At lease now she could work in peace—

 “Why is the basketball club asking more money for… food budget?”

Or not.

Sakura almost dropped the files she was holding and turned to glare at the man who still refuses to leave her alone only to see the man in question sitting on the lounge with an opened box of budget appeals. He was concentrated on the paper he was holding and he didn’t even bother to glance her way when she stalked near him.

“What are you doing?”

Kakashi slipped the basketball club’s money appeal to his ‘not gonna happen side’ and began rummaging inside the box once more. “Helping you get your work done… But seriously… snack budget?”

Sakura frowned. “Hatake-sensei, you don’t have to do that I’m perfectly capable of—“

“Ah! I see the archery club is in need of new bows… isn’t Hyuuga-kun in the archery club?

Her frown deepened. “Hatake-sensei, just go home. I can do—“

“Lee-kun? Huh, seems like the Judo club is moving onto nationals! Gai must be proud.”

Sakura tried to take the box away from him only to have him turn away from her.

“Hmm… Ebisu’s kids are sure demanding with their books huh?”

“Hatake-sensei!”

Kakashi stopped and looked up to the girl. Her face was red in anger as her hands fisted the material of her skirt. He slowly stood up and opened his mouth to try and calm the seething girl but simply shut his mouth when she threw a pencil case to his chest. He didn’t even try to dodge it. He was so shocked by the situation that he didn’t even know what to do. He had never seen the girl raise her voice and yet here he was being the cause of it all. He didn’t know what to do.

“…Saku—“

“Leave!”

He frowned. “Sakura I’m only trying to help…”

“I don’t need your help!” She grabbed a roll of tape from her desk and threw it at him.

He cringed when it hit him but made no move to do as she says. “You’re being unreasonable—“

“I said leave!” She made a move to grab her things but her vision blurred and she found herself falling. She grabbed the edge of her desk to keep herself steady and clutched her aching head with her free hand.

“Sakura!”

She held up a hand to keep him from getting closer.

“I’m f-fine…” She tried to stand upright but only managed to make her situation worse.

“You obviously aren’t!” He moved to help her steady herself but was pushed back the moment he got close. “What the…Sakura!”

“Don’t touch me!” She glared at him. “I told you I’m fine, just… just a bit dizzy... I’ll be okay if I just sit… down…”

Kakashi caught her before she hit the ground.

“Try telling me that without collapsing you little brat!” He sighed as he cradled her limp body close to his. Her face was flushed and her breathing was labored, he could tell that her temperature was up without even having to touch her forehead. “Damn it Sakura… listen to your mother more often will you?” He hoisted her up and carried her bridal style to the couch on the far corner of the room he took off his coat and draped it over the sleeping girl. Grabbing her bag from the corner he carefully tucked her head and made a make-shift pillow to help her get more comfortable.

He sat down on the floor next to her sleeping form and groaned.

“What am I going to do with you…?”

Kakashi glanced at the watch and saw that it was almost nearing ten in the evening. He pulled out his phone and began to dial a familiar number. It didn’t even pass three rings when Haruno-san picked up. As expected she was a nervous wreck, worrying about her daughter. The woman was talking at such a fast pace that he could barely even make word out from what she was saying. “H-Hana-san…” He tried to get in a word but the woman kept talking. He thanked the gods when the phone was finally taken from her and the calm voice of Haruno Satoshi reached his ears.

_“Kakashi? Is Sakura with you?”_

“A-Ah… Haruno-san, as a matter of fact she is.” He laughed nervously and loosened his tie, finding it hard to talk all of a sudden. “She’s with me and I’ll see to it that she gets home—“

_“DON’T BOTHER!”_ Hana-san’s voice cut off. _“THAT GODDAMN BRAT IS FUCKING BANNED FROM THIS HOUSE UNTIL I SAY SO!”_

Beep.

…

Satoshi stared at his wife. “Dear…”

Hana smiled at her husband and kissed him on the cheek. “How about some tea and cakes before bed hmm?”

“Dear you banned our only daughter from our home.”

“Don’t be silly, Toshi-kun!” Hana giggled. “Her future husband is with her so it’s fine.”

Satoshi sighed. “…I know I’ve already accepted the thought but please don’t force it upon them so early in their (if you could call it a) relationship.”

“Oh honey,” She kissed his cheek. “Shut up.”

…

Kakashi stared at his phone.

“…What?”

Okay.

He was not panicking.

He could do this.

All he needed to do was breathe.

And think.

At the same time,

Breathing is important.

The brain needs oxygen to properly function. Kakashi stood up and began to pace. “This is not good.”

Sakura didn’t even turn in her sleep as he started coming up with ideas on how to break the news of her mother banning her from entering their home. “Hey Sakura, you’re mother doesn’t want you to come home so I guess you’ll be staying with me tonight—unless of course you want to stay at a friend’s house w-which of course you will because you don’t want to stay with me and that’s perfectly understandable—“ Sakura coughing was what stopped him from flipping out. He rushed to her side and tried to have her sit up a bit more so she could breathe more only to worry even more finding out that her temperature was rising.

He needed to keep her cool.

He excused himself and brushed her bangs away, promising that he would be back. He found a clean towel in her bag and headed to the bathroom situated near the end of the hall. He soaked the white cloth with cold water and wrung it, making sure he wouldn’t make a mess as he went back inside.

“Okay… She’s asleep. I’m sure that I can carry her home…”

He mumbled going through possible scenarios of getting the pink haired girl into a better environment. He thought about taking her to the hospital but knowing Sakura, she would just kick up a fuss about wasting money. Naruto and Sasuke was out of the question, he never had a good relationship with the Uchihas and Naruto lived alone. He could call one of her female classmates but that would mean touching her phone. Lord knows how that will end and he’d rather not risk it.

He dipped the towel in cold water once more and wrung it out. “Okay I think this should do,” He exited the bathroom and frowned when he heard voices coming from the student council room. “I swear to god… Sakura!”

He slid the door open and glared at the pink haired girl who was coughing up a storm on her place on the couch. A box of paperwork was near her feet and some papers were scattered on her lap. She didn’t even glance his way when he walked up beside her. She was talking to someone on the phone, carefully laying out instructions to what she wanted to happen. Her voice was calm and steady, no trace of discomfort evident. It was clear that she didn’t want whoever was on the phone to worry. Kakashi crossed his arms in annoyance and stared her down.

_“Yes, I can do it tonight. I’ve finished outlining the event schedule but…’_ The voice on the other line seemed to hesitate. _‘Are you sure you’re alright? It’s not like you to pass work onto others—Not that I’m complaining, we all know you need a break but this is really out of character… Are you okay Sakura?”_

Sakura shook her head with a fond smile. “Yes, I’m fine senpai… It’s just that I have a bit of a headache…” She staggered a bit and Kakashi had to hold her steady so she wouldn’t collapse again. She glared at him daring to say anything and compromise her situation even more. “…Neji-senpai, I’ve already finished a box from the club budget appeals but I—“

_“Got it, be sure to drink plenty of water and head to bed early. I’ll handle the rest,”_ Neji sounded tired but his voice was stern. _“And take it easy for awhile okay? We’re here to help you Sakura. You don’t have to finish all of it by yourself.”_

“Yeah… Sorry.”

_“Don’t apologize. Just go to sleep and be sure to call Hinata in the morning. She’s been bugging me the moment you called but I know you need rest more.”_

 “I will, tell her I love her and not to worry so much.”

_“She heard it. Goodnight Sakura.”_

“Goodnight senpai.”

Sakura ended the call and leaned back with a heavy sigh. “…Happy?”

Kakashi had to smile at that. “Very.” He deposited the white towel on her forehead and she squeaked in surprise at the sudden cold temperature. “Put that on your head and lie down. I’ll clean up a bit.”

“You don’t have too… I can—”

“Sakura.” His tone said it all.

She sent him a withering look before lying down once more and adjusting the towel so it also covered her eyes. Kakashi smiled, seeing her finally calming down and went about arranging papers on her work desk occasionally asking her where something went and she would reply with small grunts or simply point over to the direction. He was beginning to get annoyed by the amount of papers he had to sort and didn’t fail to voice out his opinions to the resting pink haired girl. Sakura hummed in agreement and laughed when he stumbled upon the rejected club appeals and complained how some students were being ridiculous.

“It can’t be helped. Ever since Sarutobi-sama approved the rule of any club being allowed to be established, students got crazy with their ideas.” She mumbled, but Kakashi heard it perfectly and snorted in annoyance.

“Well you won’t see me signing a club form for… maid-sama appreciation club.”

Sakura laughed but ended up coughing and waved her hand in dismissal when he asked if she was alright. Kakashi assured her that he would be finish soon and he would accompany her home.

“Okaa-san banned me from the house though…”

Kakashi froze from his place at the bookshelf. “Ah… You heard that…”

“It might be the fever but I thought I heard her screaming somewhere…” Sakura removed the towel from her face and stared at the ceiling. “Did you call her?”

“I did, I wanted to tell her that you were running a fever and that I’ll just drop you home but your mother had other plans…”

“I see…” Sakura sighed and closed her eyes. “Well it can’t be helped.”

Kakashi smiled nervously. “Maybe we can convince her—“

Sakura snorted.

Kakashi blinked. _Did she just… snort?_

“Tough luck. Okaa-san can be a bitch when she’s pissed as fuck. I mean seriously one time she went fucking ballistic when Otou-san accidentally spilled some sake on the couch.”

_Okay this is not normal._ Kakashi blinked. “Sakura…are you feeling alright?”

Sakura barked out a laugh. “Ha! Let’s see… I haven’t slept in days, the last meal I had was an orange for breakfast, I had to beat down a whiny ass senior and now I can barely even stand without fucking collapsing without the help of a perverted middle-aged man who can’t even get rid of his floozies without my help.”

Kakashi cringed. “Okay… It must be the fever talking but I’m taking you home.”

“I’m banished ‘member?”

“I’m sure Hana-san will un-banish you when we get you home.”

“She won’t. My father had to sleep outside when he couldn’t remove the sake stain from the couch. Corporal punishment if you will.”

He groaned. “I guess I can help you check into a hotel—“

“Why? Weren’t you going to let me stay with you?”

Kakashi blinked. _Okay. She did not just suggest that_. “Sakura… wouldn’t you rather stay in a hotel?”

“Why would I?”

Kakashi stuttered. “B-But don’t you hate—I mean what would the neighbors think!?”

Sakura shrugged. “The landlady already knows me and I’ve always told your neighbors I was a distant cousin. I don’t think It’d be much of a problem.”

“No, no. If you’re worried about the money I’ll pay for it—“

“No.” She sat up from the couch. “It’s a waste of money, plus your house is closer to mine so I’d just walk home tomorrow.”

“But…”

“Nu-uh” She stood up swaying slightly. “It’s decided. Let me just go grab my bag and…”

She was falling again.

“Damn it Sakura!”

…

He ended up carrying her on his back.

Kakashi sighed and glanced at the sleeping girl draped over his shoulder. How did this end up like this? All he wanted was a civil conversation with her. Reconcile then live the rest of their lives as teacher and student.

Okay he didn’t want to be just teacher and student. He wanted his pinkie back in his life and he wanted her now. It’s not like he didn’t like the person she became, it’s just that it would be nice if they can talk like they used to and spend some quality time together every now and then. He wouldn’t also mind that her glares lessens and the infliction of bodily harm be removed from their so-called relationship.

Kakashi sighed.

_Yeah like that was going to happen._

Sakura began to stir from her place on his back and he stopped walking for a moment making sure she was fine. When she made no indication of waking up, he re-adjusted her position so that she would be more comfortable before walking once more. He had to smile remembering the many times he would carry her like this when she was younger. Sakura would always demand a piggy-back ride from him during her ‘princess time’ and he would always happily comply. He remembered the two of them getting into character and she would always love it when he played the knight in shining armor.

Kakashi chuckled. “Your carriage awaits, milady.”

“I remember that.”

Kakashi almost dropped her. “S-Sak—“He sighed. “You’re awake…”

Sakura hummed and rested her cheek on his back. “You were such a cool knight.” She mumbled.

“Ha… I’m not sure about cool.”

She hummed once more. “You’re right… you always loved wearing the eye-patch… more of a pirate though.”

Kakashi chuckled. _I like fever induced Sakura_. “Maybe I got it from a jousting tournament or something. An opponent could’ve gauged my eye out.”

“Mm… maybe.”

They were already on the ground floor and Kakashi could make out the parking lot from the dim lights outside. He glanced at her once more. “Feeling better?”

“…A bit.”

“We’re almost to the car.”

“…Can I get some water later?”

“It’ll be a few more minutes until we get home but I guess we could stop by the convenience store for awhile.”

“The one next to the park?”

Kakashi smiled. “Yeah… The one where we used to get ice-cream all the time,”

“I’d like that… ice-cream.” She began coughing once more.

Kakashi laughed. “The ice-cream will have to wait though, for now let’s get you some water and throat lozenge.”

“Yes please.”

He laughed once more and they reached the car. Sakura tried to struggle when he went and opened the backseat door but soon surrendered when he told her that she would be more comfortable if she had more leg-room. She nodded but there was a small frown on her face. He grabbed his bag from and hers so that he could put it in the passenger seat. The car ride was quiet, he would glance at the girl behind through the rear-view mirror and he would see her smothering a cough with a handkerchief. Kakashi glanced at his radio but decided against playing anything knowing Sakura had a massive headache.  He thought about starting up a conversation seeing as she was yet to push him away but decided against it. It wouldn’t do him good to push his luck too much the night that she had finally spoken to him in a civil manner. He made a turn and thanked the gods that there was little traffic tonight. He made another turn and almost sighed in relief when he saw the familiar street leading to a familiar convenience store.

“Ah… we’re here.”

Kakashi nodded at the girl and made a move to turn off the ignition. “I’ll be right back.”

Sakura nodded and pulled his jacket tighter around her body. “I’ll be here.”

Kakashi sent her a small smile before making his way towards the convenience store. It was when the door closed behind him that he sighed in such an exasperated manner that the man behind the cashier jumped in surprise. Kakashi sent him a withering look before heading over to the drinks section. He grabbed a couple of water bottles and eyed the brown bottles of cold hard beer with longing. “…Next time.” He promised. The walk back to the cash register was horrible and he had to thank his mother when he remembered that Sakura had dropped of some leftovers from his parent’s home when he thought about food.

“Will that be all sir?”

Kakashi looked up at the nervous face of the young man in front of him, then read his nametag. ‘Naoya’. “…Cough drops.”

“O-Of course,” Naoya smiled nervously and grabbed a packet from behind the counter. “…Rough day?”

Kakashi sighed. “Rough wouldn’t begin to cover it.”

“A-Ah… That would be 500 Yen.”

Kakashi shrugged and pulled out his wallet. He eyed the rack of candy and grabbed a packet of gum knowing he couldn’t smoke in front of the young girl. Naoya began punching in the numbers and Kakashi let his eyes wander around the empty store. His eyes landed on the freezer near the exit, smiling at the memory of him carrying Sakura so that she could pick a flavor of ice scream she wanted.

“U-Umm sir.”

“Hmm?”

“I-Is that your car outside?”

“Yeah why?” Kakashi lazily glanced outside.

“The backseat door has been open for quite awhile now.”

…

“SHIT!”  
Kakashi didn’t even bother grabbing the plastic bag on the counter and ran out the store ignoring Naoya’s distress about his purchase. He had to dodge a speeding cyclist when he crossed the road. When he reached his, he found that the kid was actually telling the truth. Sakura was gone. He saw their bags still in the passenger seat but saw no signs of the pink haired girl. He examined the door and felt relieved when he saw no signs of breaking in. Kakashi slammed the door close before looking around for anything that could tell her where the girl went. Kakashi went back to the convenience store and found no one inside except for the clerk. Said clerk began gesturing to his items and for him to pay, but he ignored him in favor of searching for the girl.

“Damn it Sakura!”

The park.

Kakashi remembered about her talking about it and made a turn towards the community lot. It was dark and only a couple of lampposts were situated around the area but Kakashi knew exactly where to go. Even after all these years, their park remained the same.

He could see little Sakura running in front of him laughing, taunting him to catch her as they played. Kakashi passed a familiar set of swings and chuckled at the memory of Sakura falling face first into the dirt when she tried copying him by swinging standing up. He passed the fountain where he fell more than a couple of times when he and Sakura would meet up, with him arriving more than twenty minutes late. The girl would scold him, tears in her eyes then promptly push him in the fountain and he allows her to do so just to make her feel better. He passed the giant sandbox where they would always play castles and princesses with him being the knight.

And then he saw it.

The big tree that they would always meet upon afterschool; His steps slowed and he approached the tree with caution. It had been so long since he went here and he can’t help but smile sadly at the nostalgia that washed over him. He walked up the small hill and sighed. “It’s been awhile…”

He touched the bark, admiring the rough texture. He always regretted not coming down here, but there were so many memories with him and her together in this place that it never felt right for him to go alone. He laughed a hollow one. _She hates me though._

Kakashi sighed and sat down on the soft grass, leaning his back to the tree as he would always do while he waited for her.

“…Sorry I left the car.”

Kakashi stared at the leaves above. “It’s okay… just promise me you’ll never do that again.”

“Sorry…” Sakura murmured from her place at the other side of the tree. “I just…”

She didn’t say it, but Kakashi knew what she wanted to say. After all, he felt the same way. _She missed this place._ “Yeah,”

A cool breeze passed them and Kakashi had to remember that she was running a fever. He asked her if she wanted to leave but she quietly asked him if they could stay for just a bit more. He reluctantly agreed and stretched his legs out, getting comfortable. “Okay… But only for a bit more.”

The silence was unnerving. He wasn’t sure if it would be okay to start a conversation when clearly she wanted silence. He fiddled with his tie, hoping to relieve boredom only to remember that his jacket was with the pink haired girl. The night was cold but warm enough that she could survive with his coat. He spotted a vending machine near a park bench and asked if she wanted anything to drink. She made a sound of affirmation but didn’t give any specifics on what she wanted. Kakashi got up and slowly made his way to the brightly lit machine.

He fished out some change from his pocket and stared at the choices.

“…What the hell am I doing?”

He sighed and crouched down. He faintly remembered doing the same thing awhile ago before this whole fiasco even started. He groaned and glanced at the clock tower situated in the middle of the playground.

10:03 p.m.

_It’s late._ He thought. “I should probably get her home…”

He stood up and made the safe choice of hot green tea and grabbed a can of black coffee for himself. The walk back was quiet and he could faintly see Sakura still sitting behind their big tree. His feet made a crunching noise as he walked through patches of grass and dead leaves. He was about to call out her name but it died down in his throat when he heard sniffling.

“…I bought you some tea.” His voice was barely above a whisper and he had to strain his ears to hear the small thank you that she gave when he sat down beside her.

She had her knees tucked under her chin and she hugged them close to her chest. She was wearing his dark coat but it was too big on her, with the sleeves going past her fingertips. She was still crying and Kakashi had no intention of bringing it up unless she wanted to do it on her own. He placed the can near her feet and went on drinking his own.

“…I’m sorry.”

Kakashi glanced at her. “You don’t have to apologize… I mean, I did leave you in the car—“

“Not that…” She cut him off, wiping her tears away with her, well his, sleeve. “I’m sorry for cutting you off.”

“…Oh.” He didn’t know what to say to that. “…Yeah,”

“But I really did hate you.”

Ouch. “Huh…” Kakashi leaned back and stared up at the starless sky. “Can I ask why?”

“No.”

Well that wasn’t fair. “Why not?”

“It’s just that… I don’t know the reason why as well.”

Kakashi didn’t have a reply to that.

“Maybe…” Sakura held the can of tea in both hands. “Maybe it’s because you changed.”

He laughed at that. “Hate to burst your bubble but you were the one who changed first.”

She shook her head. “No… You probably didn’t realize it but you were the first to change.” She still held the can, staring at anywhere but him. “It all started when you stopped playing with me I think.”

Kakashi blinked “…You hated me for not playing with you?”

“Petty… I know.” She laughed. “But you have to understand, I was eight. Kakashi-kun who always played with me had no time for me anymore. He had other friends now that he could play with. Kakashi-kun has to study more to get into a good college, he has no time for a middle-school brat—“

“Wait… You thought that I—“

She didn’t let him cut her off. “Kakashi-kun has responsibilities now and should not be bothered…” Her voice quieted down and Kakashi held his tongue.

_‘She… She felt that way all this time?’_

“I thought that ‘Kakashi-kun is so nice for playing with me… but Kakashi-kun is a grown-up now.’” She laughed, albeit sadly. “I shouldn’t get in his way now… Kakashi-kun wouldn’t want to play with a little kid, so I have to grow up faster so that Kakashi-kun would want to spend some time with me again.”

A tear fell down from her eye and she didn’t even bother wiping it. “It was wishful thinking though… I studied hard, did my best in sports, and became someone anyone could rely on” She smiled. “Adults praised me for being such a mature child despite my age and for a moment I was happy.” Her voice grew confident. “I was happy with teachers praising me with my work, I was happy when Tsunade-sama told me I was one of her best students, I was happy when I became the youngest council president and… I was happiest when I got into the high school you were teaching in.”

“Sakura…”

She shook her head. “Remember that time at the restaurant? When our families got together and we celebrated my entrance to high school?”

Kakashi remembered. It was at that night that she made it clear that she wanted nothing to do with him. “…Yeah.”

“I was excited that night.” She grinned. “I was so excited to tell you that I got accepted into high school and show you how much I grew up!” She laughed. “I got dressed up, had mom do my hair and I called Ino to help me with my make-up. I wanted to tell you personally all the things I had done just to make it seem like I was a level higher than the others that you would later call students… but you were so far away.”

Kakashi frowned. “What are you—“

“We celebrated your promotion that night as well, remember?”

“Oh… that.”

“When Hatake-san brought it up… I was so ashamed.” She covered her face with her hands. “I thought ‘Of course…for every step I take he was twenty steps ahead.’ I was so embarrassed! I finally thought that it was something I could be proud of and finally be able to stand next to you… but I remembered that I would never be able to do that because I was just a kid—“

Kakashi grabbed her head and forced her to look up.

“W-Wha!?” Sakura’s face showed shock even through the tears streaming down her face.

“Shut up.”

“W-Wha—“

“Shut up and listen to me.” Kakashi stared her in the eye and glared. “I’ve always been proud of you. Without you even telling me I’ve always known the success and praises you’ve gathered during the times we were apart. You don’t know how much I bragged you to Genma and others for all the accomplishments you’ve done. If anything I’m the one embarrassed to be seen by you. You were the one everyone relied and you were the one that everyone praised. Never think of yourself to be lesser than me because I am nothing but a twenty four year old bachelor who lives alone, is constantly late and is accused of being a chronic pervert.”

“B-But I’m…”

“And don’t think I’m not pissed at you.”

Sakura blinked. “Huh?”

“I sat here for five minutes listening to your side of the story and the only thing that processed in my mind was that you pushed me away because you wanted to be with me?”

Sakura blushed. “N-Not like that!”

Kakashi glared. “Oh don’t you dare try to excuse yourself now. You’re telling me that you hated me because I wasn’t there to play with you!?”

“T-That’s not—OW!” He flicked her forehead in a painful manner.

“This is why I call you a brat!” He yelled. “Don’t decide by yourself to just cut me out of your life just because I missed some play dates!”

Sakura turned red in anger and pushed him away. “Then what was I supposed to do huh!? Mope around, just waiting for you to notice me?”

“It’s better than pushing me away when you really wanted to be with me! What are you a tsundere!?”

“T-Tsun—!?“

“Oh and did it ever cross your mind to just _talk_ to me about this? Huh?”

“It’s not that simple!”

“Really now?” He glared. “How hard is it to just come up to me and tell me how you really feel?”

“Y-You—!” Sakura blushed. “You’re so immature!”

“Immature!? Who’s the one who isn’t being honest here?”

Sakura started tearing up again.

“Oh no! You’re not going to cry and make me feel guilty!” He pinched her cheeks. “You’re equally responsible here!”

“Shut up!” Sakura swatted his hands away and curled into a ball of embarrassment. “Leave me alone!”

Kakashi yelled out in frustration and collapsed on the ground with an angry yell. “You’re impossible!”

…

“…I’m sorry for grabbing your head and pinching your cheeks.”

Sakura and he was sitting on the park bench near the vending machines. Kakashi passed her another can of green tea just because the other one got cold from all the… emotions that were flying around during their so called confrontation awhile ago.

“…I deserved it.”

Kakashi sighed. “You didn’t. I was just…overwhelmed with the whole thing and let my emotions get the better of me.”

Sakura stayed quiet and drank her tea.

“So… you like me huh?”

She then spat it out.

“W-Wha—What are you saying!?” Her face was red and she turned to the stoic male beside her. “I-I don’t!”

Kakashi raised a brow in question. “Really? I was sure you were in love with me, what with the way you told you story of ‘wanting to be with me’”

“Y-You…! Don’t just jump into conclusions on your own!”

Kakashi laughed. “Ha… Sorry. That was a bit conceited of me.”

“It was.” Sakura blushed and looked away taking a sip of her drink once more.

“Okay…” Kakashi got up from his seat and stood in front of her. “Punch me.”

Sakura almost choked on her drink. “W-Wha… Have you gone crazy!?”

“Nope.” Kakashi grinned. “But it’s only fair seeing I hurt your face. A man should never hit a girl.”

Sakura stared at him. “…You’re being serious aren’t you?”

“Of course!” Kakashi grinned and stood up even straighter. “Punch me in the gut or something.”

Sakura sighed. “You’re so weird.”

“Punch me!”

Sakura stood and adjusted his coat around her. “You sure about this… people told me I punch quite hard.”

Kakashi winked. “Even the more reason you should.”

Sakura sighed once more and got into a stance that would surely promise pain. Kakashi gulped and closed his eyes when she drew her fist back. She warned him that she was going to punch him now and tried his best to relax his whole body knowing it would hurt more if he resisted the force.

But all he felt was a light tap.

He slowly opened his eyes. “Sakura…?”

Her face was flushed red and her hand was still balled into a fist. She refused to meet his eyes but she grabbed onto the material of his shirt and pulled him closer.

“I…love you”

Kakashi frowned. “Sakura…”

“I really do love you.”

He sighed and patted her on the head. “Sakura… you know I can’t go out with you.”

She started sniffling but slowly nodded her head. “I know… I didn’t expect you to, but I just wanted to be honest for once.”

He pulled her into a hug and patted her on the back comfortingly. “Thank you.”

“But I still do love you.”

He smiled. “I know.”

“Do you love me too?”

He pulled away. “…Sakura.”

She laughed and wiped the tears away. “Ha. Sorry for pushing my luck.”

He smiled at her. “Sorry kid but I’m not interested in going out with little kids.”

She started tearing up again, but the smile stayed. “I know…”

Kakashi stared at her for a long while.

She blinked. “W-What?”

He sighed. “You know what?”

Sakura threw him a confused look but quickly melted into a surprised one when he pulled her close to him with a cheeky smile. “H-Hatake-sen—mmh!”

He kissed her.

Sakura turned red and before she knew it, he was already pulling away. “W-Wh—“

Kakashi grinned and kissed her on the forehead. “Sorry.”

Sakura blushed once more and squeaked in surprise when he lifted her up and began walking away. “Y-You said you couldn’t go out with me!?”

Kakashi nodded. “That’s right I can’t. The law strictly forbids me to have any form of romantic relationships with minors.”

“T-Then—“

“Then we should just go get married to avoid any conflict!” He said that in a tone too happy that Sakura was beginning to question who the sick one is right now.

“M-Marriage?”

“That’s right! So let’s go to your house so that I can properly ask for your parents’ approval.”

“S-Sensei!?”

Kakashi stopped walking and stared at her in the face. “Is that anyway to call your future husband?”

Sakura glared despite the blush. “Y-You’re insane!”

Kakashi raised a brow in question. “You’re rejecting me?”

She seemed shock for a moment before closing her mouth and slowly shaking her head no.

Kakashi grinned. “It’s agreed then!”

He carried her the whole way back to the car.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
